Comparison of the implementation of competition law in India and in the European union

Abstract

A little bit of history After its Independence in 1947, India, for the better part of half a century thereafter, adopted and followed policies comprising what are known as “Command-and-Control” laws, rules, regulations and executive orders. The competition law of India, namely, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTP) enacted in 1969 was one such. The goal of MRTP was to regulate the further activities of those industries that by the definition of the MRTP Act under chapter III were undertakings where economic power was concentrated. Various factors had contributed to the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few large industrial houses (high cost of entry into industry, rigid control by the central government of issue of capital by companies, issue of industrial licenses…) Concentration was measured in terms of the prescribed value of the assets owned or controlled by any undertaking, singly or along with interconnected undertakings or as a dominant undertaking. According to India’s Constitution (article 38 onwards), the State wanted to ensure that large industrial houses did not deprive smaller enterprises of their shares of the resources of the country and that large industrial houses fell in line with the country’s planning priority. Therefore the MRTP was aimed to contain concentration of economic power and not issues relating to competition, though prohibition of monopolistic and restrictive trade practices restraining competition was also within the scope of the Act. The enactment of MRTP was characterized by a very particular political and economic environment and context, i.e. planned economy, State intervention, for a very narrow purpose compared to modern competition policies.