The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will ensure that the notification of Sections 5 and 6 of the Competition Act, which pertain to mergers and acquisitions (M&As), will have minimal impact on the ongoing merger or acquisition deals.
The law, once notified, will provide some leeway for the M&A deals that were being worked out prior to the notification of the M&A clauses, Corporate Affairs Secretary R Bandyopadhyay said.
Industry circles have been lobbying with the corporate affairs ministry to take a lenient view of the ongoing M&A deals, as they may not be able to take into consideration the kind of rules that are being envisaged by the government.
The government will announce some mechanism wherein existing mergers and acquisitions, which are inked before the new law comes in place, will not be reviewed on the basis of the rules that will be notified.
The notification of M&A rules has been one of the most contentious issues before the industry. While all other portions of the Competition Act has been notified, the government has delayed these specific clauses to see that they take industry on board while framing the laws.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Competition Law last week, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the notification of M&A rules was critical to implementation of the competition rules.
The minister said industry had more to gain than lose from the new provisions.
“The notification of M&A provisions is very critical. It is important to understand that the world is moving (in that direction) and we need to move the same way. We are just trying to have a greater consensus,” Khurshid said.
