Fair play panel braces for action

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is undertaking a capacity-building drive. This is after the Supreme Court left it for the government to amend the competition law.

"The CCI is in the final stages of receiving a $ 0.5 million grant from USAID for capacity-building," an official from the commission told Business Standard. This is in addition to the $ 0.5 million grant from the World Bank approved in October last year.

The panel will sanction research projects on various competition related matters, like cartels in manufacturing sector, anti-competitive practices in food retail, and in the trucking and the pharmaceutical sector. The commission will also hand out a research projects on the anti-competitive policies that arise from central government practices.

While the government is still mulling over the amendments needed in the competition law, the commission is going full-steam ahead towards building capacity and increasing awareness on various issues related to competition.

"This is in accordance with what was discussed in Parliament and as the competition law will be implemented in stages, it is necessary to create adequate awareness and equip the commission to deal with complex competition related issues," the official said.

"We are also going to induct some professionals from the fields of economics and law in consultation with the ministry of company affairs," he added.

"The competition commission is likely to sanction some of the research projects to institutions like Icrier, Delhi School of Economics, Jawahar Lal Nehru University and Indian Institute of Management," the official said.

The commission is also finalising a course curriculum on competition law with about 150 educational and professional institutions.

At a recent forum organised by the commission, Frederic Jenny, judge, Supreme Court of France and former vice-president of the French Competition Authority had explained the working of the competition law in the European Union and shared his views on its implementation.

He had also said transparency in decision-making could go a long way towards building credibility.

As the commission cannot take up competition related cases until the government amends the competition law, the Monopolistic & Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Commission will continue to hear cases.