Law, Liberalisation and Globalisation in India: Just a Game of Chance?

This paper is a part of a larger research on the working of business law in India in the changing context of globalisation and liberalisation. The macro theme requires details of the changes in law, economy and business in different fields. However, as the changes in the economy were in a nascent stage, the details were yet to emerge. Now, after a decade of reforms, changes in different fields are beginning to be discernible. Towards creating a corpus on the working of law in its micro details, this paper takes up the law on holding of games, contests and lotteries for promotion of products and services. With liberalisation, as entry into production and services is no more a barrier, firms have got into aggressive and competitive trade practices to entice the customers. This has included proliferation of games, contests, lotteries and similar promotional schemes. The paper explores the working of the provision on the subject, contained in the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, and finds out that while the business practices in the post-liberalisation-globalisation period required better regulation, the interpretation of the law by the courts has made the law non-existent.