[Kruthika Venkatesh is a 4th year B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at School of Law, Christ (Deemed-to-be) University in Bangalore] Background The media has reported that the Government of India is all set to ask the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) to prepare a list of candidates for merger among the 21 government controlled lenders with the primary agenda of overcoming bad debts. It all began two...
Ultratech Cements: Understanding Trends in the Economics of Market Power
[Lianne Lucia D’Souza is a 4thyear B.A. LL.B. student at School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University, Bengaluru] Introduction Since the enforcement of merger control provisions in the Competition Act, 2002, the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has played an active role by assessing over 500 combinations in a short span of seven years. All transactions meeting the jurisdictional...
Charter Hire Agreements: Abuse of Dominance in a Monopsonist Procurer Market
[B.V.S. Aditya Santosh is a 4thYear BBA.L.L.B. (Hons.) Student at ICFAI Law School, Dehradun] In Indian National Shipowners’ Association Vs. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (order dated 12 June 2018), the Competition Commission of India (CCI) dealt with abuse of dominant position of an enterprise in a monopsonist procurer market (buyer’s monopoly) by virtue of unfair charter...
The Walmart-Flipkart Deal: A New Era For The Indian E-Commerce Industry
[Hitakshi Mahendru is a 5th Year Law Student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune] Introduction In its order dated 8 August 2018, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the 77% acquisition of outstanding shares of Flipkart Private Limited (Flipkart) by Walmart International Holdings Inc (Walmart) and stated that it is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India...
Competition Law Concerns with Android Operating System: European Commission Throws a Hammer on Google
[Rajat Sharma is a 4th year B.A. LL.B (Business Law Hons.) student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Introduction It is an undeniable fact that mobile internet services make up for more than half of the global internet traffic, as also stated by European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The statement came after the European Commission (EC) imposed a mammoth fine on Google...
CCI Proposes Amendments to the Combination Regulations To Disentangle the Minority Acquisition Exemption
[Ahkam Khan is a 3rdYear B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University in Lucknow] India contemplates an ex ante merger control regime under the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Combination Regulations). The process for filing of combinations with the Competition...
Google “Search Bias” Case: A Law and Economics Analysis
[Madhavi Singh is a is a 5th year B.A. LL.B. (Hons) student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Google has in many parts of the world faced allegations of abuse of dominant position for several practices. This post is limited to the Google “search bias” case before the European Commission (EC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). I...
The Risks of Common Ownership on Competition: Emerging Jurisprudence
[Suyash Bhamore is a 3rd Year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student, NLIU Bhopal] Background and Context The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in order dated 20 June 2018 in Case No. 25-28 of 2017(Meru Cabs Case) ignited a discourse on antitrust risks perpetuating from common ownership. The Meru Cabs Casedefined common ownership as “a situation where large institutional shareholders such as investment...
The Indian Competition Watchdog’s Application of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index
[Suyash Bhamore is a 3rd Year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student, NLIU Bhopal] Background and Context Economics, more specifically, tools of economic analysis have always been accorded paramount importance when conducting competition analysis. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is one such econometric tool, which is widely accepted by various competition regulators as a measure of market concentration...
Appreciable Adverse Effects on Competition and Circumstantial Evidence in Antitrust Investigations
[Tanya Varshney is a fourth-year BA LLB student from Jindal Global Law School] The effect of information exchange and collusion amongst firms can have a significant impact on the market structure. When firms collude to fix prices and supply levels, they hold a great degree of market power. However, in the absence of a written contractual agreement as direct evidence, is there a presumption of...
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