India

Competition Commission of India, Digital economy, Digital markets, Facebook, India, Tying and Bundling, Whatsapp

(Chambers of Adv Shresth Gautam) and (LexStart)/ /Leave a comment

The antitrust watchdog of India recently in Harshita Chawla v Whatsapp and Facebook[1] held that Whatsapp’s proposed model of integrating its payments app called ‘Whatsapp Pay’ (‘WPay’) within its messaging app is not anti-competitive since it does not constitute ‘tying in’ due to lack of coercion. In reaching such a conclusion the Competition Commission of…

Cartels, Competition Commission of India, COVID-19, India

, (Law Chambers of Sonam Mathur)/ /1 Comment

In the last few months, Competition Commission of India (CCI) took what most might view as an extremely lenient stance in two cartel cases; what is known as the most serious violations of competition law. Hard-core cartels are perceived as the “supreme evil of antitrust”[1]. It is then perplexing to understand why such cartels operating…

Competition Commission of India, Digital economy, India

, (Nishith Desai Associates)/ /2 Comments

When Europe sneezes…India catches a cold Investigations against big tech in Europe and U.S. have created a ripple effect all over the world, including India. The impact of worldwide investigations against big tech has intensified the sentiment of mistrust towards digital moguls. In this environment, it is only natural to make conclusions about the course…

Competition enforcement, India, Tax

(Caim Consulting) and (Competition Advisory Services (India) LLP )/ /1 Comment

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the already struggling Indian economy and the sky-high growth in the cartel cases in the country comes as no surprise. However, given the current economic fallout, the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) has lately shown leniency to the companies involved in the cartel cases. The Indian fair-trade…

India, Locus standi

(Competition Commission of India)/ /Leave a comment

On May 29, 2020, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) rendered a decision in the matter of Samir Agrawal v. CCI & Ors. wherein it inter-alia, ruled that the locus standi to approach Competition Commission of India (“Commission”) under the Competition Act, 2002 (“Act”) lies only with a person “who is either a consumer…

Abuse of dominance, Anticompetitive agreements, COVID-19, Exemptions, India

(Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition (JIRICO))/ /1 Comment

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been very prompt with adopting various measures to continue its working during this period of pandemic. The CCI has issued several circulars and public notices from time to time to keep people updated about its functioning.[1] The CCI is currently functioning at a reduced capacity and most of…

E-commerce, India

(National Law University Delhi)/ /Leave a comment

Background The changing market dynamics in the digital era have raised several concerns with competition regulators across the world, triggering a host of studies for better understanding the issue. In doing its part, the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) released the ‘Market Study on E-commerce in India’ highlighting various regulatory issues in the e-commerce market….

Composite combinations, India, Merger control

(NALSAR University of Law) and (Institute of Law, Nirma University)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Sections 5 and 6 of the Competition Act, 2002 [‘the Act’] provide the basic statutory framework for merger control in India. The Report of the Raghavan Committee, which played an instrumental role in the formulation of the Act, contemplated the Indian Competition Law regime to be one of pre-notification in order to elude the…

Algorithms, Competition law, India

/ /Leave a comment

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has released Interim Observations for a market study being conducted by it to understand qualitative aspects of e-commerce in India.[1] It has outlined its scope to understand the market landscape, strategies and issues arising thereunder, without undertaking an examination of breach of competition law.[2] So far, it has divided…

Abuse of dominance, India, Predatory pricing

(Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition (JIRICO))/ /Leave a comment

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has dismissed an appeal[1] filed by Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd. (‘Uber’) against an order of the erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal (‘COMPAT’) wherein the COMPAT had ordered an investigation into allegations of abuse of dominance against Uber in the region of NCR. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed that…