‘Competition Bill will protect the consumer’

Our eFE Bureau in Mumbai

“The new ‘competition’ bill has the basic objectives of encouraging competition, protecting consumers and ensuring a level playing field for participants,” according to Sanjiv Rawell, advocate, Rawell & Kudrolli. The focus of the new bill is expected to be to abuse dominance and put in place a mechanism to monitor mergers and combinations among enterprises with a view to ensure competition.

Coining a new term, Mr. Rawell spoke of the ‘Competition’ Commission of India (CCI), a quasi-judicial body, which would adopt a competition advocacy role.

According to Mr Rawell, there are clear differences between the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act and the Competition Bill. For instance, the MRTP focuses on dominance while the Competition Bill encourages abuse of dominance.

“In the case of MRTP, regulation is compulsory while it is not required under the Competition Bill,” he explained. The issues in the telecom sector, according to Mr Rawell, were those of collective dominance, problems relating to market definition in addition to procedural aspects of mergers.