Competition regulator to soon release 'leniency-plus' regulations to bust cartels
Competition Commission of India (CCI) will soon come out with regulations around the proposed leniency-plus regime, which will encourage companies under investigation for cartelisation to report other cartels and get their own penalties reduced, chairperson Ravneet Kaur said on Tuesday.
The leniency-plus regime was proposed in the Competition (Amendment) Act 2023. It is aimed at creating a structure that will incentivise companies under scrutiny for spilling secrets of other cartels.
The regulator will soon seek stakeholder comments for the regulations and finalise them, Kaur said in her first press conference after taking over as the head of the CCI in May.
Kaur said competition authorities of the BRICS grouping will meet this week to deliberate on existing and emerging anti-trust issues, with India hosting the conference after a gap of 10 years.
More than 600 delegates are expected to attend the event in the national capital from October 11 to 13. She said the competition landscape has evolved with a growing digital economy and the emergence of big tech players--an issue that would be deliberated on at the conference.
The main objective of the conference is to spur cooperation and share experiences and learnings, she added.
The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The conference comes at a crucial time for India when it’s preparing to regulate big tech over antitrust issues. Moreover, it has already amended the extant competition law to address emerging issues.
The BRICS ICC was last held virtually in China in 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
