Badri Narayanan

KEY POINTS In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined, and it needs to be ensured that digital gatekeeper firms, such as Google, do not abuse their dominant position to harm the competitive process of determining a fair distribution of revenue (...)

KEY POINTS The thrust of the definition of the term ‘enterprise’ under the Act is on the economic nature of the activities discharged by the entity concerned. BRIEF FACTS An information was filed by Mr. Kalpit Sultania (“Informant”) against IREL (India) Ltd. (“IREL/OP”) alleging abuse of (...)

KEY POINTS Unlike traditional ‘single-brand’ markets or aftermarkets, the present digital ecosystems including app stores operate as a platform connecting two or multiple different sets of market participants, such as, app developers and users. The multisided nature of this market needs to be (...)

Worldone Private Limited (“Worldone/Acquirer”) is an investment holding company, engaged in various businesses including the business of manufacturing steel and captive thermal power generation. Worldone presently has shareholding in various entities, including Jindal Power Limited (“JPL / (...)

Lunolox Limited (“Lunolux / Acquirer”) is a special purpose vehicle incorporated by AI Global Investments (Cyprus) PCC Limited (“AI Global”) for the purposes of the proposed combination. AI Global operates as the investment hub for Asia for all the funds managed by Advent International Corporation (...)

Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (“Reliance Solar / Acquirer”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (“RIL”), a newly incorporated entity and does not offer any products or services in India. Recently it has announced the acquisition of a stake in REC Solar, which is engaged in (...)

BRIEF FACTS Velankani Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (“Velankani/Informant”), a company engaged in the business of designing and manufacturing electronic products in India, including ‘servers’, filed an information against Intel Corporation (“Intel/OP”) alleging abuse of dominant position. Velankani, for the (...)

FedEx Express Transportation and Supply Chain Services (India) Private Limited (“FedEx India”) is a subsidiary of Federal Express Europe Inc., which is ultimately held by FedEx Corporation, USA (“FedEx”), one of the largest express transportation companies in the world. Delhivery Limited (...)

KEY POINTS Mere attendance in meetings where commercially sensitive information such as pricing is discussed, influences and takes away the independent decision making ability of the competitors. They can no longer independently decide the price related policies in the market and therefore, (...)

A notice was filed by BCP TopCo XII Pte Ltd. (“Acquirer”) pursuant to a Share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) between itself and ASK Investment Managers Limited (“Target”), persons set out in the SPA and the Shareholders Agreement, inter alia between the Acquirer and the Target. The Acquirer and the (...)

KEY POINTS Mere commonality of ownership of participating firms is not sucient to conclude bid rigging in the absence of any material indicating collusion. BRIEF FACTS Based on an audit report by Comptroller and Auditor General (“CAG”) on construction management in road works in Uttar Pradesh (...)

A notice was filed by HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited (“Acquirer/HDFC Life”) pursuant to the execution of a Share Purchase and Share Swap Agreement, between HDFC Life, Exide Life Insurance Company Limited (“Target/Exide Life”), and Exide Industries Limited (‘Exide Industries’). The Acquirer and (...)

A notice was filed by HDFC Bank Limited (“HDFC Bank/Acquirer”) pursuant to the execution of a Binding Term Sheet between HDFC Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (“HDFC”). It envisages an acquisition by HDFC Bank of 4.99% of the outstanding equity share capital, on an undiluted (...)

A notice was filed by Phoenix Parentco, Inc. (“Phoenix”) pursuant to the execution of the Interim Investors Agreement inter alia between Phoenix, EQT Investors and GS Investors ; and Agreement and Plan of Merger inter alia between Phoenix, Phoenix Merger Sub Limited and Parexel Investment (...)

A notice was given pursuant to execution of a Master Framework Agreement, inter alia, between Betaine B.V. (“Acquirer”) and Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (“HGS/ Seller”), and India Business Transfer Agreement between HGS and Betaine. The notice envisages the acquisition of 100% interest in the (...)

Nextbillion Technology Private Limited (“Acquirer/Nextbillion”), and Indiabulls Asset Management Company Limited (“Indiabulls AMC”) and Indiabulls Trustee Company Limited (“Indiabulls Trustee”), collectively (“Targets”), jointly filed a notice pursuant to execution of Share Purchase Agreement between (...)

A notice was filed by Savex Technologies Private Limited, India (“Savex/ Acquirer”) pursuant to Share Purchase Agreement executed between Savex, Inflow Technologies Private Limited, India (“Inflow”) and the existing shareholders of Inflow ; and Shareholders Agreement executed between Savex, Inflow (...)

This article has been nominated for the 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Adani Power Ltd. (“APL”) is a public listed company primarily engaged in the business of power generation by using coal based thermal power plants. APL directly (...)

KEY POINTS Even if there is a delay in the filing of information on behalf of the informants, the Act does not envisage any period of limitation as inquiries conducted by CCI are proceedings in rem. There can be no limitation period in competition law as in a changing and evolving market (...)

KEY POINTS A statutory body exercising economic functions can not be said to have abused its dominant position in a particular relevant market for any decisions taken as part of the policy-making process, which apply equally to all market participants. BRIEF FACTS Three separate informations (...)

KEY POINTS Filing a criminal complaint against another enterprise in the same sector cannot be said to have been done with a view to oust competition from the relevant market in the absence of any additional evidence to indicate contraventions of Section 3 and/or 4 of the Act. BRIEF FACTS (...)

KEY POINTS The consumer, based on his requirements / commercial considerations, has the freedom to specify and choose the kind of service, machineries, timelines, mode, and the manner in which it requires the same, provided that no provision of the Act is violated. The public procurement (...)

KEY POINTS Cutting off supply/distribution of particular brands, thereby allowing market access to only a dominant entity leads to abuse of its dominant position by such entity. An effective push to competition happens when the efficiency of slower-moving products is enhanced such that a (...)

KEY POINTS CCI is empowered to initiate an investigation into any conduct which may contravene the provisions of the Act if the CCI knows that such conduct is about to be committed. The CCI is obligated to prevent practices from having an adverse effect on competition. BRIEF FACTS CCI (...)

KEY POINTS A no presumption of appreciable adverse effect on competition (“AAEC”) cannot arise without first establishing the existence of an agreement in terms of the provisions Act. BRIEF FACTS An information was filed before CCI by the Gujarat Paper Mills Associations (“GPMA / Informant”), (...)

KEY POINTS (i) Although CCI and the DG have the powers to investigate the representatives of the tenderer/procurer to understand and ascertain the tender design, tendering mechanism including the eligibility of the bidders in terms of tender conditions by requisitioning the relevant records. (...)

KEY POINTS (i) In deciding applications for interim relief under Section 33 of the Act, CCI must form a higher degree of satisfaction than the prima facie requirements under Section 26(1) of the Act. (ii) Denial of market access need not be complete or absolute in nature to result in an (...)

KEY POINTS The practice of restricting the maximum discount and issuing advisories for members to not participate in certain procurement advertisements amounts to anti-competitive conduct, especially if coercive action is taken by the governing body to ensure adherence by its members. BRIEF (...)

KEY POINTS Mere price parallelism does not amount to cartelization, if : (i) the market prices have fluctuated, at times with significant margins, (ii) new players are easily able to establish themselves ; (iii) all players offer more or less similar kinds of services, and (iv) the prices (...)

KEY POINTS (i) The mere fact that participants to a tender have common directors/shareholders is not sufficient evidence to return a finding that the parties are engaging in bid-rigging. (ii) Commercial transactions between related parties, such as sale/purchase of goods and loan exchanges, (...)

KEY POINTS An inquiry into whether certain practices by a firm amount to abuse is not required to be undertaken when the concerned firm does not hold a dominant position in the relevant market by virtue of there being other prominent firms within the relevant market that provide the same (...)

KEY POINTS Merely adding more functionality to an internet-based app in the name of product improvement and enhancing benefit to consumers would not amount to leveraging dominance if the users are not compelled to utilize the new features to the exclusion of all other services offering similar (...)

KEY POINTS Existence of large number of players in the home loan market shows that ICICI Bank (“ICICI”) cannot operate independently in the market and, hence cannot be considered to be in a position of dominance in the relevant market. In the absence of any evidence indicating an agreement or (...)

KEY POINTS The markets for insurance and reinsurance exist as separate markets and insurance companies have the commercial freedom to price their policies as they deem fit according to the market conditions and decisions taken in the reinsurance market do not place any restriction on insurance (...)

KEY POINTS An entity falls within the definition of the term ‘enterprise’ only if it is engaged in any economic and commercial activity specified within Section 2 (h) of the Act. BRIEF FACTS An information was filed before CCI alleging contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act by (...)

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. (“ABFRL / Target”) is a public limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. ABFRL is engaged in the business of manufacturing and retailing branded apparels, footwear and accessories, through its retail stores, multi-brand outlets, departmental (...)

Manipal Health Enterprises Private Ltd. (“MHEPL / Acquirer”) is part of the Manipal Educational and Medical Group which operates a network of hospitals providing multi-speciality care. Manipal Group has 15 hospitals spread across 7 cities in India under the brand name ‘Manipal Hospitals’. Outside (...)

On December 9th, 2020, the DG carried out dawn raids at the offices of top cement manufacturing companies, including UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement, Ambuja Cement, ACC, Dalmia Cement, and Rockstrong Cement, over allegations of price coordination and collaborating levels of cement supply. The (...)

The Commission announced that it has done away with disclosure requirements relating to non-compete covenants at the time of entities seeking approval for merger deals. Therefore, parties filing a notice for combinations before the CCI will not be required to give separate details regarding (...)

KEY POINTS Mere contravention of tender policies does not imply a contravention of Section 3(3) of the Act, unless there is additional material to substantiate allegations of collusion. Brief facts A Reference was made to CCI under Section 19(1)(a) of the Act, against Lakeforest Wines (...)

Key points CCI opined that a tenderer inviting bids only from certain brands does not amount to abuse of dominance by the tenderer. The tenderer has the right as a consumer to choose which brands can apply for the tender. Brief facts Information was filed with the CCI under Section 19(1) (a) (...)

Greenko Energy Holdings (“GEH / Party No. 1”) is a company limited by shares incorporated in Mauritius, engaged principally in the business activity of investment holding. It is the holding company of the Greenko Group of Companies (“Greenko”). GEH has an Indian subsidiary which is primarily (...)

KEY POINTS Even in cases where an information is filed anonymously before the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”), it is within the powers of the Director General (“DG”) to cross-examine the informant ; Googles’ market position in the android app market provides it with a significant market (...)

Key points Unilateral and unfair conduct by an entity cannot be a subject of investigation by the CCI in the absence of dominance. However, consumers can still reach out to the consumer forum for seeking relief against unfair practices of enterprises Brief facts An information was filed (...)

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on October 26, 2020 rejected the CCI’s challenge to the Karnataka HC’s stay on the investigations directed by the CCI against Amazon and Flipkart. In January, 2020, the CCI has ordered investigation into allegation of, inter alia, exclusive arrangements, (...)

Key points While the standard of evidence required to be provided by an informant is not very high, however, the CCI’s resources cannot be used to further open-ended bald allegations in an omnibus manner which do not further the public cause. In the absence of any material showing even prima (...)

Key points To conduct an investigation in a time bound manner, out of the 19 phenol importers, the DG investigated 12 that accounted for 95% of the total sales volume of phenol. In the absence of any evidence indicating an agreement or meeting of minds amongst the phenol importers, a mere (...)

MCPI Pvt. Ltd. (“MCPI”) is part of The Chatterjee Group (“CG”) and is engaged in the business of manufacturing and supply of Purified Terephthalic Acid (“PTA”). MCPI has a wholly owned subsidiary, MCPI Polyester Pvt. Ltd. (“MCPI Polyester”), a newly incorporated entity which currently does not have any (...)

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (“IFF”) is a public company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the Euronext Paris, and is based in New York City, United States of America. IFF is active worldwide in the development, creation, and sale of flavours and (...)

KEY POINTS Anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance issues against e-commerce platforms ought to be analyzed individually in respect of each product on a case-by-case basis. In the absence of dominance, issues of sale of counterfeit products on an e-commerce platform do not raise (...)

KEY POINTS An alleged illegal termination of a dealership agreement by a manufacturer who does not command a dominant position does not attract the abuse of dominant position provisions of the Competition Act. BRIEF FACTS Vijay Chaudhary (“Dealer”) was an authorised dealer of India Yamaha (...)

Lightstone Fund S.A. (“Lightstone”), is an alternative investment fund incorporated in Luxembourg, that was established as an umbrella fund structure with initially one sub-fund, i.e. Lightstone Global Fund (“LGF”). Lightstone does not have any direct presence in India. Lightstone is managed by its (...)

KEY POINTS Within the real estate sector, different categories of residential properties are not necessarily substitutable and therefore form separate relevant markets. Further, certain industrial practices though not within the realm of the CCI may require regulatory intervention. BRIEF (...)

KEY POINTS A government-owned corporation is an enterprise within the meaning of the Competition Act if it engaged in economic activity and can be investigated for violation of provisions of the Competition Act. BRIEF FACTS Dhiraj Gupta, a sole proprietor secured the license for parking (...)

KEY POINTS In the absence of any material on record which can suggest collusion, no case of anti-competitive agreement can be made out. In addition, for a case of abuse of dominance, one must take into consideration the market structure and the number of major players including, global players (...)

Key Points The mere fact that a case has been filed by an aggrieved party under the Act, does not take away its character of being a case in rem involving a larger question of fair and competitive markets. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the informant need not necessarily be an (...)

On July 30, 2020, the Central Board for Direct Tax (“CBDT”) amended notification S.O. No. 731 (E), originally issued on July 28, 2000, which specifies the terms and conditions for the disclosure of information to any officer, authority or body in regards with imposition of any tax, cess or duty (...)

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd. (“Adani Ports”) is a private sector port operator, currently having presence in six maritime states in India viz. Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha through 10 ports, where it provides (i) full marine services including piloting (...)

Even as the Personal Data Protection Bill (“PDP Bill”) continues to be analyzed by a joint parliamentary committee, in consultation with experts and stakeholders, an expert committee constituted by MeitY has recommended a framework for regulating NPD which involves the creation of a new national (...)

KEY POINTS While the CCI found sufficient evidence to hold that there existed a contravention of Section 3(3) of the Act, given the economic downturn due to the pandemic faced by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”) in India, and other public interest considerations, the CCI imposed no (...)

Key Points To bring an allegation of abuse of dominance before CCI, the informant ought to show that some right it possessed had been infracted by the conduct of the opposite party in terms of Section 4 of the Act. An announcement made in the newspapers as a public notice is merely a (...)

Key Points It is the prerogative of the procurer / buyer to decide technical specifications in the tender document as per its requirement. Such specifications would only be subject to the provisions of the Act if the tender document framed by a dominant entity contained provisions which were (...)

KEY POINTS Swiggy does not select or modify the rates charged by its partner restaurants and therefore, any discrepancy in the rates is solely attributable to the partner restaurants. BRIEF FACTS An Information was filed under Section 19(1)(a) of the Act, alleging that the popular app-based (...)

Key Points The existence of an agreement between four industrial and automotive bearings manufacturers was established in relation to price revision as well as minimum percentage of price increase to be quoted to automotive and industrial Original Equipment Manufacturer (“OEM”) customers. The (...)

Peugeot is a publicly listed limited liability corporation, incorporated in France, as the holding company of a French-based group, which is mainly an OEM and dealer of motor vehicles, passenger cars as well as light commercial vehicles (“LCV”) under the brands Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Vauxhall and (...)

Key Points Limitation period for filing an application for compensation under Section 53N(1) of the Competition Act starts only after the CCI order attains finality upon determination of the final round of appeal, whether it be before the appellate tribunal or the Supreme Court. Brief Facts (...)

Key Points The Competition Act specifically provides the modes by which the CCI may take cognizance of allegations of contravention of the Competition Act. An information concerning any allegations may be filed before CCI under Section19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, only by a person who has (...)

NVCL, a public limited company incorporated in India, is part of Nirma promoter group company. It is stated to be engaged in the businesses of manufacturing and sale of varieties of grey cement including portland pozzolana cement (“PPC”), portland slag cement (“PSC”) and ordinary portland cement (...)

TM is a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”) set up and managed by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P. (collectively referred to as (“Apollo”). Apollo invests in equity and debt issued by entities involved in businesses such as chemical, hospital, security, insurance, (...)

Jaadhu Holdings LLC (“Jaadhu”), is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Facebook Inc. (“Facebook”), incorporated in the state of Delaware, USA.1 Jio Platforms Ltd. (“Jio”), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (“RIL”). Jio owns and operates digital applications and holds controlling investments in (...)

Mylan is a global pharmaceutical company incorporated in Netherlands, having a broad portfolio of products sold in 165 countries. Mylan is present in India through three registered entities namely – Mylan Laboratories Ltd. (“MLL”), Mylan Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (“MPPL”) and Mylan Laboratories (...)

Grasim Industries fined INR 302 crore for abusing its dominant position in the market for Viscose Staple Fiber (“VSF”) by the CCI* Key points A dominant entity has a special and differential obligation and ought to behave as a responsible corporate citizen. Discriminatory prices for similarly (...)

KEY POINTS Given that the conduct related to a period prior to May 20, 2009, the CCI had no jurisdiction to investigation. Further, during the concerned period, none of the players in the relevant market enjoyed a position of strength for a long duration. Even thereafter, in 2015-16, domestic (...)

KEY POINTS The CCI recognised that there is rarely any direct evidence of action in cases involving concerted action. It is normal for agreements relating to such activities to be entered into in a clandestine manner. In such situations, the evidence is limited, fragmentary and sparse. Hence, (...)

HFL, is a non-deposit taking non-banking financial company registered with the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”). It is primarily engaged in the businesses of consumer finance and different types of commercial lending. Otter is an investment company incorporated in Mauritius and controlled by (...)

NTPC is a public company incorporated in India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Power, Government of India (“GoI”). NTPC is an energy conglomerate primarily engaged in electric power generation through coal-based thermal power plants, generation of electricity from hydro and (...)

ZF is a global technology company, headquartered in Germany which develops, manufactures and distributes products and systems for passenger vehicles (“PVs”), commercial vehicles (“CVs”), o- highway vehicles (“OHVs”) and industrial technology. ZF is present in India by way of its various subsidiaries (...)

The CCI has approved the formation of a JV between M&M and FMC and the transfer of the automotive business of Ford India Private Limited (“FIPL”) to the JV. As per the business transfer agreement (“BTA”), the business of FIPL, other than certain assets relating to its powertrain business, will (...)