Competition Commission of India Notes for UPSC: Brief and Precise Notes for Preparation

Before heading towards the Competition Commission of India Notes for UPSC, let us first have a brief understanding of what is the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Competition Commission of India

The competition commission of India is a statutory body of the Indian Government. Due to this Commission, the competition Act, 2002 was implemented.  It has a chairperson along with six members appointed by the government of India. The Competition Act is a controller of all the competitions conducted in India. It was imposed on the 14th of October, 2003, but started working fully in 2009. Its first chairman was Dharmendra Kumar.

Below, you will read about the competition commission of India for UPSC to get complete knowledge before giving the exam. It is equally important as the other laws are for the preparation of UPSC or any other state-level exam.

Purpose of the Competition Commission of India

The main purpose of the Competition Commission is to provide India with a healthy competitive environment via:

1. Proactive engagement with international jurisdictions and government, including customers, industry and stakeholders.
2. They ensure being a skilful organisation with high knowledge level and perform their duty with professionalism and transparency.
3. Thrive for the welfare and advantage of consumers.
4. Making sure the competition is healthy in economic activities.

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Breaking their objectives in pointers:

1. They protect the interests of the customers.
2. Prevention of unfavourable activities that will affect the competition.
3. Promotion of perfect competition in the market for economic efficiency.

Note

Advantages of perfect competition are of three types:

1. Efficacious allocation of resources (allocative efficiency)
2. Production cost is kept minimum (productive efficiency)
3. Promotion of innovative practices (dynamic efficiency)

Competition Act, 2002 made Easy

1. It was established by the parliament of India and regulates Indian competition law.
2. This act replaced the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 in 2009.
3. Modern competition laws are followed by this act as their philosophy.
4. This act prescribes an anti-competitive agreement.

History of the Formation of Competition Commission of India

1. The Competition Act, 2002 got amended to the Competition Act, 2007.
2. Vajpayee government imposed the Competition Act, 2002 under the Competition Commission of India.
3. The Competition Appellate Tribunal’s main work was to get rid of appeals that are against the CCI rules.
4. Later in 2017, the Competition Appellate Tribunal was changed to, or we can say, got replaced by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
5. They have their headquarters in Delhi.
6. The current chairman is Ashok Gupta, and the secretary is PK Singh.

Roles of Competition Commission of India

The various functions and roles are listed in easy points below. This will help you in having a precise knowledge of the Competition Commission of India for UPSC exams.

1. The CCI is the controller of competitions and is the antitrust guard of other small organisations. CCI helps them to stand against and defend other prominent organisations.
2. It notifies the other organisation that may be spreading a negative competitive environment in India.
3. If a foreign organisation wishes to merge with India, they have to strictly abide by the rules and regulations.
4. It ensures that none of the organisation uses their position in manipulating supply control, prices and performing malpractices which are against the laws. This maintains a peaceful environment between small and large enterprises.
5. It prevails the information of advantages of competition amongst the stakeholders for the growth of the competitive environment in the Indian economy.
6. A good relation between sectoral regulators is developed by the CCI to maintain smooth alignment of sectoral laws with the competition laws.
7. It takes competition advocacy and establishes awareness among the public.
8. It provides training on competition issues to the public.

Composition of Competition Commission of India

The composition of CCI is of the utmost importance. The whole functions, roles and objectives depend upon it.

According to the Competition Commission of India Act book, below is the composition:

1. The CCI should consist of a chairman and a maximum of six members. The Central Government of India appoints these.
2. The chairperson and all the members should be highly qualified in terms of knowledge, integrity and experience. 15 years of experience is mandatory in business, finance, law, management, public affairs, or any other equivalent fields.
3. It is a quasi-judicial body that deals with cases and provides an opinion to legal authorities.
4. The members are meant to be full-time members.

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The Necessity of the Competition Commission of India

The CCI has become vital for the maintenance of competition in India. But why do we exactly need them? Read the below Competition Commission of India notes to know the answer:

1. It helps in the promotion of domestic industries. This ensures a balance between increased globalisation and domestic industries as they are important for the economy.
2. It supports free enterprises and economic freedom by preserving them.
3. Markets can face activities that are against competitive laws. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, the CCI effectively takes control over all the economic activities.

Competition Commission of India Judgements

1. In 2012, the CCI charged a fine of 63 billion rupees on 11 cement industries. They were caught under manipulative activities in the market.
2. In 2013, a penalty of 552 million rupees was imposed on the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It was claimed that the IPL team ownership used the dominance position.
3. In 2014, Google got fined ten million rupees for not following the directions of DG (Director General).
4. In 2015, three airlines were fined due to the activities performed against the CCI laws. The total fine was 258 crore.

Problems Faced by the CCI

Problems faced are multiple, both internal and externals:

1. With the increase of judgements, the number of benches has to be increased.
2. With a huge global market running in the country, it’s not easy to regulate them. The business and market are evolving. Thus, it is difficult to maintain the laws.
3. With the increase of digital marketing in the country, the CCI faces challenges as its laws were made when there was no such thing.

Conclusion

The CCI is an essential part of our constitutional bodies in managing the competitive environment. Established in 2003, many changes have occurred till now. It has gone with its ups and downs and still managed to prevent the adverse effects on the market due to competition.

The Competition Commission of India notes provided above are important for your civil services exam.

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