As per sections 5 & 6 of the Competition Act, the commission is empowered to probe a corporate deal for any possible breach of the competition law. However, the government has set a threshold limit as per which only those M&As would come under the CCI purview that have combined assets of R1,000 crore or more or combined turnover of R3,000 crore or more.
To approve these M&As the commission can take up to a maximum period of 210 days. The long waiting period had raised myriad concerns among industry bodies that argued that any leakage of information could jeopardise the deal. The commission has also set a threshold limit for a target company’s acquisition. According to the revised norms, the target company’s net assets have to be a minimum of R200 crore or turnover of R600 crore for a CCI scrutiny.
However, in a set of draft notifications issued on Wednesday, the commission reduced the total time period for approving an M&A within 180 days, thereby giving India Inc relief of just 30 days. The commission however cautioned corporate houses that if two concerned parties failed to appraise the CCI of an M&A, then the commission suo moto could initiate a probe. Following the notifications, the commission is also empowered to order the parties to modify the M&A deal to make it competitive in nature.
CCI Notification/Circulars:-
