Competition Commission of India

What is the Competition Commission of India?

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory body established by the Central Government under the Competition Act, 2002 (‘the Act’). It came into effect on 14th October 2003. However, it became fully operational only in 2007. It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effects on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India. The  Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.

Composition of CCI

The  Commission consists of a Chairperson and a minimum of two members. The maximum number of members is six, all of which are appointed by the Central Government. They are appointed on recommendation by a Selection Commission composed of the Chief Justice of India, the Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs amongst others. The members appointed are required to be person of ability, integrity and   standing   and   who   has   special  knowledge  of,  and   such professional experience of no less than fifteen years in international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance, accountancy, management, industry, public affairs or competition matters, including competition law and policy, which in the opinion of the Central Government may be useful for the Commission.

Duties and Functions of the Commission

Section 18 of the Competition Act provides the major duties of CCI:

• Eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition: It is the duty of the commission to be a watchdog for prohibiting any practice relating to abuse of competition in markets.
• Promote and sustain competition: The main purpose of the Commission is to promote the competition in markets in India and try to carry on competitiveness in markets in India.
• Protect the interests of consumers: The ultimate aim of the competition law and the competition commission is to protect consumers from the abuse of competition in markets. All the anti-competitive activities are prohibited in order to ultimately help consumers.  
• Ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants, in markets in India: In order protect the competition in markets the commission has a duty not to hinder the freedom of trade in markets in India.

In line with such duties, the CCI undertakes its own market studies on different aspects of competition in various sectors in India.  CCI has previously undertaken market studies on the mining sector and cab aggregator industries amongst others. The CCI website can be used to access the reports of market studies and learn about ongoing market studies.

Powers of the Commission

• The Commission has the power to inquire into certain agreements and the dominant position of enterprise and any alleged contravention of the provisions contained in section 3(1) and section 4(1). Section 3(1) prohibits any enterprise from entering into any agreement which causes or is likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India. Section 4(1) prohibits any enterprise from abusing its dominant position.
• The Commission shall, while determining whether an agreement has an appreciable adverse effect on competition under section 3, have due regard to factors such as- a) creation of barriers to new entrants in the market; (b) driving existing competitors out of the market; (c) foreclosure of competition by hindering entry into the market.
• The Commission shall, while inquiring whether an enterprise enjoys a dominant position or not under section 4, have due regard to factors such as:— (a) market share of the enterprise; (b) size and resources of the enterprise; (c) size and importance of the competitors.
• The Commission may, upon its own knowledge or information relating to acquisition referred to in Section 5, inquire into whether such a combination has caused or is likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.
• Where in the course of a proceeding before any statutory authority an issue is raised by any party that any decision which such statutory authority has taken or proposes to take is or would be, contrary to any of the provisions of this Act, then such statutory authority may make a reference in respect of such issue to the Commission. On receipt of a reference, the Commission shall give its opinion, within sixty days of receipt of such reference, to such statutory authority.
• On receipt of a reference from the Central Government or a State Government or a statutory authority or on its own knowledge or information received under section 19, if the Commission is of the opinion that there exists a prima facie case, it shall direct the Director General to cause an investigation to be made into the matter.
• Where after inquiry the Commission finds that any agreement referred to in section 3 or action of an enterprise in a dominant position, is in contravention of section 3 or section 4, as the case may be, it may pass orders such as imposition of penalty or direction to discontinue such agreement.
• The Commission also has powers to direct division of an enterprise enjoying dominant position, conduct investigation of combinations, issue interim orders, and power to regulate its own procedure.
• The Commission shall have, for the purposes of discharging its functions under this Act, the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit.

• The Commission may direct the Director General to assist the Commission in investigating into any contravention of the provisions of the Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder.
• The Chairperson shall have the powers of general superintendence, direction and control in respect of all administrative matters of the Commission.

Appeals

Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) was constituted following the passage of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007. It was established on 15th May, 2009, authorized to hear appeals from the orders of CCI and pass relevant judgments. It amended the Competition Act by deleting Section 40 and introducing Chapter VIIIA titled “Appellate Tribunal''. Prior to the amendment, any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Competition Commission of India would have to directly file an appeal with the Supreme Court asking for necessary relief. It ceased to be in effect following the amendments made to the Finance Act, 2017. The brought appeals filed against the orders of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) under the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) within the purview of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The NCLAT succeeded the erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) as per the amendment brought to Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013 by Section 172 of the Finance Act, 2017, with effect from 26th May, 2017. According to Section 53A, The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal shall hear and dispose of appeals against any direction issued or decision made or order passed by CCI. The  Central  Government or any  State  Government or the  Commission or any statutory   authority  or  any   local   authority   or  any   enterprise  or  any   person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal may file an appeal to the Supreme Court within sixty days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal to them.

Official definition of Competition Commission of India

According to section 2(e) of the Competition Act, 2002, Competition Commission of India is the Commission appointed for the purposes of the said Act under section 7(1). Section 7 provides for the establishment of the Commission. The Commission shall be:  a body corporate by the name aforesaid  having perpetual succession and a   common seal   with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall, by the said name, sue or be sued. The head office of the Commission shall be at such a place as the Government may decide from time to time.

Recently, the Competition Law Review Committee has made recommendations regarding the functioning and institutional structure of the CCI and bodies related to Competition Act. The committee was set up on 1st October, 2018 to review the Competition Act and Rules and Regulations framed thereunder. The Committee has been tasked with the responsibility to review and recommend a robust competition regime, by taking the inputs of key stakeholders, and suggesting changes in both the substantive and procedural aspects of the law. Some of its recommendations with respect to the CCI include creation of a governing body and subsuming Director General within the CCI. The Committee recommended that the Act be amended to provide for a governing body, to strengthen the accountability of the CCI.  The governing body will consist of a Chairperson, six whole time members, and six part-time members.  It will perform quasi-legislative functions, drive policy decisions, and perform a supervisory role.

The Committee on Digital Competition Law has also released a report recommending an ex-ante competition framework for digital markets in India. The Competition Act in antitrust matters adopts an ex post approach (wherein regulatory intervention happens after the occurrence of an anti-competitive conduct) in prohibiting anti-competitive agreements (Section 3) and abuse of dominance (Section 4). It is noteworthy that the Competition Act does not seek to prohibit the dominance of an enterprise per se but rather the abuse of such dominance by an enterprise. In this context, the Committee also published a draft Bill to give effect to its recommendations of adopting an ex-ante competition framework.

Appearance in official database

CCI’s Annual Reports

The CCI releases its annual report to share a comprehensive review of all activities undertaken by or brought before CCI. These reports contain information such as landmark decisions of the Commission, the number of complaints filed, and actions undertaken by the CCI including notices issued and penalties imposed. It also has details of budgets and number of selections, vacancies and recruitments.

The following screenshots demonstrate samples of data presented in the Annual Report for 2022-23.

Answers to Questions in Parliament

Another official resource to track data related to CCI is response to questions in the Parliament available on the Open Government Data Platform India. The platform has been designed to facilitate the access to Government owned shareable data and information  in both human readable and machine readable forms in a proactive and periodically updatable manner, within the framework of various related policies, Acts and Rules of Government of India, thereby promoting wider accessibility and application of government owned data and unlocking the potential of data for national development. While the platform does not have a catalogue on Competition Commission or Competition related cases, a search for ‘competition’ provides access to data related to CCI. The data available on this portal is limited to data as presented in the Parliament as answers to queries. The source of such data is not mentioned.

Some samples of the data available is as follows:

Sector-wise Detail of Penalty Imposed under Competition Commission of India (CCI) from Nov 2017 to Oct 2022

Sector-wise Detail of Penalty Imposed under Competition Commission of India (CCI) from Nov 2017 to Oct 2022

Category-wise Cases Received under Sections 3&4 (Anti-competitive Practices and Abuse of Dominant Position) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) from 2018-19 to 2021-22

Category-wise Cases Received under Sections 3&4 (Anti-competitive Practices and Abuse of Dominant Position) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) from 2018-19 to 2021-22

Research that engages with CCI

OECD’s Annual Report on Competition Policy Developments in India

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development releases an annual report on the work carried out by CCI. It traces changes to competition laws and policies, proposed or adopted and enforcement of competition laws. It highlights important decisions and orders of CCI under various sections of the Act. In its 2022 report, it also compiled data to record sector-wise distribution of combinations notices of mergers received by CCI. The data available is as follows:

Sector-wise distribution of combinations notices of mergers received by CCI

International Experiences

In the US, two federal agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing antitrust laws: the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The DoJ is part of the executive branch of the government, while the FTC is an independent administrative agency similar to the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The Sherman Act, the oldest federal antitrust statute enacted in 1890, addresses anti-competitive agreements and monopolistic practices. The Clayton Act of 1914 deals with specific business practices, including mergers, price discrimination, tying arrangements, and exclusive supply agreements. Both the DoJ and FTC enforce the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act independently, but the DoJ has exclusive authority to prosecute criminal violations. Additionally, most states have their own antitrust laws enforced by state attorneys general. However, the majority of antitrust litigation in the US comes from private enforcement, where competitors, suppliers, and customers seek damages for injuries caused by anti-competitive conduct.

The competition law of the European Union is detailed in Articles 101 to 109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This treaty covers prohibitions on agreements that restrict competition, abuse of dominant positions, and state aid. In addition to the main treaty, various rules, guidelines, and notices have been issued to regulate areas such as mergers and concentrations. The European Commission is the primary enforcer of these rules, responsible for tasks like fact-finding, taking action against infringements, and imposing penalties. Challenges to Commission decisions in competition cases are first brought before the General Court, with appeals heard by the Court of Justice. EU competition law is often applied by the Commission and EU courts with consideration for the integration of the single European market. Member states also have their own domestic competition laws, modeled after Articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU, and enforcement activities are conducted by the 27 National Competition Authorities.

Data Challenges and Way Ahead

As identified in the Official Database section, data regarding cases reported or dealt with by CCI remains limited to its annual report or in the form of responses to questions in the Parliament. A real time dashboard (e.g. see NHRC Dashboard) that tracks CCI’s activities will allow better monitoring of activities and easy access to such data.