[Mayank Udhwani and Ragini Agarwal have recently graduated from National Law University, Jodhpur. Part I in this series is available here] In this two-part series, the authors argue that the provision under section 31(4) of the IBC must not be watered down and that approval from the CCI must be obtained prior to the approval of the resolution plan by the adjudicating authority. In part-I, the...
An Argument in Favour of an Effectively Mandatory CCI Approval Under Section 31(4) of the IBC – Part I
[Mayank Udhwani and Ragini Agarwal have recently graduated from National Law University, Jodhpur] The introduction of section 31(4) through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Act, 2018 was intended to fine tune the workings of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 [‘IBC’]. The clause provides that the resolution applicant is required to obtain necessary statutory approvals...
Recent Antitrust Issues in the US – Learnings for the Indian Competition Regime
[Vanshika Katiyar and Rajat Maloo are 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.] On 29 July 2020, the heads of America’s largest tech giants, namely, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook testified before the United States’ Congress. The members of the antitrust committee of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives...
Establishing Locus Standi under the Competition Act: A Problem-Solution Mismatch
[Kajal Singh and Nikunj Maheshwari are 4th year law students at Institute of Law, Nirma University] The Competition Act, 2002, is a comprehensive piece of legislation intended to identify and curb any anti-competitive practices, which goal is sought to be achieved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). In furtherance of the same, the CCI has been vested with powers to initiate an inquiry...
Hub and Spoke Cartels: A Perspective on Future Investigations
[Aditya Goyal and Shreya Chandhok are students at National Law Institute University, Bhopal] Amidst the ever-increasing anti-competitive concerns and the inadequacy of the present competition regime to tackle the emerging issues, the Indian Government introduced the draft Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in March this year. One of the proposed amendments in the Bill widens the scope of...
CCI’s Decision to Eliminate Non-Compete Restrictions in Combinations
[Vishal Rajvansh is a third year student at National University of Studies and Research in Law, Ranchi] The Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has released a press note dated 15 May 2020 seeking public comments regarding the examination of non-compete restrictions under the regulation of combinations. Notably, the CCI had earlier mandated the parties to a combination to furnish information...
Identical Bids as Evidence of Bid Rigging: Reconciling Excel Crop Care and Rajasthan Cylinders
[Soumil Jhanwar is a 4th year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] To establish bid rigging under section 3(3)(d) of the Competition Act, 2002 one must prove that the bidders had entered into an “agreement”, which has the effect of manipulation of bids. As per section 2(b) of the Act, an agreement need not be formal or written, and can be in the...
German Court’s Antitrust Decision Rules against Data Collection by Facebook
[Ridhi Arora and Hitoishi Sarkar are II Year B.A. LL.B (Hons.) students at Gujarat National Law University] On 23 June 2020, the Federal Court of Justice (Germany) provisionally confirmed charges of abuse of dominant position against Facebook. The judgment comes a year after the Federal Cartel Office (Germany) found Facebook guilty of exploiting its dominance to force users to share data from...
The Troubled Waters of CCI’s Penalty Regime
[Akanshha Agrawal is a III year student at the National Law University, Delhi] The recent Competition Commission of India (CCI) order finding SKF India, Schaeffler India and Tata Steel guilty of forming an anti-competitive cartel has received much attention due to the regulator’s curious decision not to impose any penalty on the offenders. The CCI had taken a suo moto cognisance of the issue...
NCLAT Rules on Algorithmic Collusion by Cab Aggregators
[Basu Chandola is a Research Assistant at the Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition (JIRICO)] In a Samir Agrawal v Competition Commission of India (29 May 2020), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (‘NCLAT’) has ruled on the possibility of hub-and-spoke cartels between the cab aggregators and the drivers. The appeal arose against the decision of the Competition Commission of...
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