CCI to streamline penalty recovery mechanism

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Faced with a low recovery rate of penalties imposed for anti-competitive conduct, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started exploring ways of making recovery more effective. The regulator has set up a three-member internal committee to recommend measures to make the recovery process more robust, two persons informed about the development said.

The committee will make suggestions to amend CCI’s set of regulations on recovery of monetary penalty, which were originally issued in 2011 and amended in 2014 and 2021, said the person, who spoke on the condition of not being named. The move to streamline the penalty recovery proceedings comes at a time the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament is preparing for a performance audit of some of the regulators such as CCI, Sebi and TRAI and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is examining the funding and track record of CCI and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Once the recommendations are ready, CCI is likely to hold public consultation before further modifying the regulations, a second person who is also aware of the development said.

CCI said in its annual report for FY23, that in FY22 and FY23, the regulator imposed penalties of ₹1,336 crore and ₹2,672 crore, but could recover only about 13% and less than 1% of those, respectively. The panel’s recommendations are expected to help improve recovery. CCI has the power to recover penalties by attaching the movable or immovable property of the entity that defaults on making the payment as ordered.