What is Competition Commission of India?

In today's world, we can see competition everywhere. Everyone wants to be on the top and competes with one another. We can see competition across all the sectors in the society, be it in business, advertisement, restaurants, products, service providers, and so on.

To be the leader, one may follow or approach the so-called shortcuts or incorrect path. The idea was to prevent business organizations from following unethical practices. So, a commission was required to check the unethical practices and to issue guidelines on the concerned issue, and thus the Competition Commission of India came into existence in India.

What is Competition Commission of India?

Competition Commission of India is a statutory body of the Government of India, which is responsible for enforcing, The Competition Act of 2002, throughout India and to prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on the competition in India.

The Competition Commission of India is also popularly known as CCI.

When was the Competition Commission of India established?

The Competition Commission of India was established on October 14, 2013. It became fully functional during May 2009 with Dhanendra Kumar as its first Chairman. The CCI consists of a Chairperson and six members appointed by the Central Government.

Reason behind setting up CCI in India

The idea of setting up Competition Commission of India was conceived and introduced in the form of The Competition Act of 2002 by the then Vajpayee government.

A need was felt to promote competition and private enterprise in the light of Indian economic liberalization during 1991.

The Competition Act of 2002

The Competition Act of 2002, was amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act of 2007. It follows the philosophy of modern competition laws.

The Act prohibits any anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by the enterprises and regulates combinations (like acquisition, acquiring of control and Merger and acquisition), which causes or is likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.

Role of Competition Commission of India

• To prevent practices having the adverse effect on competition.
• To promote and to sustain competition in markets.
• To promote the interest of consumers 
• To ensure freedom of trade is carried on by other participants in markets in India.

The Commission is also required to give an opinion on competition issues concerning a reference received from the statutory authority established under any law, to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on the competition issues in India.

Objective of Competition Commission of India

The objective of CCI is to play the role of market regulator across all the sectors with the focus on the anti-competitive behavior of enterprises that may distort competition. CCI performs the function to curb concentration in the market.

If the companies are found guilty, then the CCI has the right to impose a penalty on those companies which are found guilty, based on the cases filed with the commission.

Competition Commission of India Fines Google

Recently the Competition Commission of India issued an order against search engine giant Google for search bias and imposed a hefty penalty.

According to the Competition Commission of India, it found that Google had abused its dominant position in online general web search and web search advertising services in India.

The order was passed in response to information filed by Matrimony.com Limited and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) in 2012.

The CCI in its orders noted that the allegations against Google in respect of search results primarily centered around the design of Search Engine Result Page (SERP).

Based on the findings of contraventions against Google, CCI has imposed a penalty of Rs.135.86 crore upon Google after taking into account its revenue from its India operations only.