Implementation of Merger Remedies in Indian Competition/Antitrust Law– Jurisprudential Journey of the Competition Commission of India in the Last Decade

Remarkably, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has never sought to block outright a proposed combination (acquisition, merger or amalgamation of enterprises/groups). Instead, if the CCI finds after an investigation that a proposed combination would be likely to harm competition in one or more markets, its response is to impose conditions– “remedies”– on the deal. As in jurisdictions around the world, these conditions may be behavioral, structural, or some mix of the two (hybrid remedies); also, as in other jurisdictions, structural conditions are in principle favored over behavioral, as they typically do not require ongoing monitoring of the merged firms. This paper, after discussing the most important provisions and case laws in the Indian Competition Act, places the CCI’s approach to merger remedies in the context of practices that are observed in other jurisdictions. It discusses the details of the remedies that have been imposed in important merger investigations over the past 10 years (2014–2024) and closes with recommendations for bringing the CCI remedies approach up to world best practices.