New regulators: Careful what you wish for

If past experience is anything to go by, creating a new sectoral regulator for a specific industry is more likely to undermine the objective of combating anti-competitive conduct

A widely reported interview with a Union Cabinet minister a couple of days ago may be a pointer to policy thinking and future legislation. It calls for pause and deeper reflection. Complaining about how steel and cement prices have kept rising without commensurate justification, the minister called for tackling alleged cartelisation by setting up a new regulator for each of these sectors.

There is indeed already a law to deal with cartelisation (Competition Act, 2002) and an agency to enforce the law (Competition Commission of India).  If the perception is that the law and the agency have not achieved enough, the