The proposed National Competition Policy may come up for the Cabinet’s consideration in a few days, as the ministry of corporate affairs has finalised its draft after consultation with various stakeholders.
“It should be going to the Cabinet in the next few days. We wanted every ministry and department to have their say. The consultation process has just been completed,” corporate affairs secretary Naved Masood said on the sidelines of a press meet.
According to Masood, the policy will provide a framework to promote greater competition across sectors and unleash the full growth potential of the Indian economy.
The draft policy talks about various instruments to promote competition in markets to ensure protection of consumer interests, while at the same time protecting the rights of market players to fair competition.
It also aims to remove overlapping jurisdiction of various regulators and streamline laws aimed at fostering competition, another official said.
“The policy is meant to promote competition in regulated sectors. It will also ensure institutional mechanism for synergized relationship between the sectoral regulators and the CCI (Competition Commission of India) and prevent jurisdictional gridlocks,” the official said.
Once approved, the policy will have a bearing on cases that will come under CCI.
According to the draft policy, CCI will also have powers to look into matters at state level, such as agriculture and power, but impact large section of the country’s population.
Meanwhile, the government is also working on amendments to the Competition Act, 2002. In a note prepared for a group of ministers, the corporate affairs ministry has sought to bring all sectors of the economy under the purview of CCI.
The proposed Competition Policy also provides for an effective prevention mechanism for anti-competitive conduct, transparent and non-discriminatory market processes.
