Category: Uncategorized

Indian Merger Control – 30 Days Sword Gone (And an Introduction :-))

Allow us to introduce Ms. Samali Verma, who will now join us on this Blog. She is presently pursuing a Judicial Clerkship at the High Court of Delhi and has extensive experience on the subject of our love prior to her present role. She plans to start with small snippets/updates and we soon hope to see larger posts from her over time. Welcome to the Blog, Samali. 🙂

 

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In a significant development, the Ministry of Corporate affairs vide its notification dated 29.06.2017 has brought in a relaxation with respect to the time-period within which a merger/combination transaction is to be notified to the Competition Commission of India (C.C.I.).

This notification exempts an enterprise, from filing a notice within 30 days, for a period of five years from the date of the notification. The C.C.I. has now effectively done away with the earlier mandate which required filling within 30 days of a trigger event.

This is a much appreciated relaxation in the merger control regime in India. This change was long due, and now this finally puts India at par with the internationally accepted best practices in the merger control regime. It is expected to further increase the ease of doing business in India and is a welcome step, especially for those involved in multi-jurisdictional filings, as this removes the artificial pressure of having to comply with the 30 day deadline. The failure to give notice to the C.C.I. of a notifiable transaction may attract penalty, which may extend to one percent of the total turnover or assets of the combination.

Click here for a copy of the Notification.

Revival Time

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Yes it’s been a long time since I updated this Blog. The reasons are a combination of excess work, exhaustion, ill health and lethargy.

It is time to break this hiatus. I have a tonne of ideas/ issues roiling in my head and there are just too many thoughts which need to be penned down. 🙂

Also, we might also be joined by a few more authors on this platform. More updates on that soon.

G.C.R.: Immunity, Sanctions & Settlements.

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This is admittedly super cool and super useful !! The Global Competition Review (G.C.R.) has an amazing “Know-How” Compilation on “Immunity, Sanctions & Settlements” across all major competition jurisdictions. So if you want an answer to a query related to sanctions and immunity’s across various jurisdictions or even for a particular jurisdiction, simply tick mark the relevant boxes and the answers come right on. 🙂 Even important F.A.Q.’s have  been compiled for ease of access and the answers have also been compiled by authoritative practitioners in he field in the relevant jurisdictions. On a cursory glance, I’ve found almost all basic questions covered within them and in some even more.

 

There are similar compilations for “Private Litigation” and “I.P. & Antitrust”.

By far one of the coolest initiatives in competition law jurisprudence. (Ya I know I sound like a total nerd. :D)

The Modern “Trojan Horse” Reworked For Capitalism

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This post is not strictly about Competition Law, but then, life is about more than Competition Law. And as it is, the just announced Microsoft-Nokia buyout deserves a post !!

Lets consider the facts. Stephen Elop, who was heading Microsoft’s business software division, left Microsoft in 2010 to join Nokia, allegedly  to lift Nokia out of the non-innovative rut which it had managed to get itself stuck in at the time, especially with Touchscreen phones and Smartphones. What did Nokia do under the leadership of its new C.E.O. ?? It tied up in a strategic partnership with Microsft to provide the software to its new line of “Lumia” smartphones. In addition to this, Nokia did not even try to pursue a growth startegy with the Android operating system on its phones. Correct me if am wrong, but not even a single Nokia Smartphone or Touchscreen phone is equipped with the Android operating system.

Furthermore, During the almost three years Stephen Elop was C.E.O. of Nokia, the Company fell from its position as the world’s largest smartphone vendor to assume the status of tenth largest. As a consequence, not only did Nokia obviously see its market share collapse, but more importantly, it’s share price literally shrivelled up to a pittance. Shares in Nokia may have surged around thirty percent to 4.01 Euros by late Tuesday, but while up from their decade-low of 1.33 Euros hit last year, they are still only a fraction of their year 2000 peak of 65 euros. It’s obvious that Microsoft is getting Nokia cheap.

I may sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but it almost seems Stephen Elop was SENT TO NOKIA WITH THE INTENTION FOR PREPARING IT’S MOBILE HANDSET BUSINESS FOR AN ACQUISITION BY MICROSOFT. What further lends credence to this theory is the fact that he will return to Microsoft to head the newly acquired Mobile Division.

In conclusion, unless Finnish and E.U. authorities wish to investigate, it does not seem as if the move was in any manner illegal. However, it does leave a bad taste in the mouth. Also, whether even this cut-throat strategy was worth it remains a question, considering Microsoft shareholders are less than impressed with the deal as of now. (Microsoft shares were down almost six percent at the time of publication fo this post.) And who can blame them ?? Windows phones haven’t been doing well in general, and the problem seems to be more with the acceptance of the software rather than there being anything wrong with the hardwware.

A Snacker

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An upcoming post on the recent Reference Case No. 01/2012, . M/s Puja Enterprises et al., has been slightly delayed, so here is a snacker till this Friday, by which I hope the post will be ready for upload.

1. Volume 5 of Fair Play is out. For the uninitiated, Fair Play is the Quaterly Newsletter of the C.C.I.

2. Typical of the workings of a Ministry, the Draft National Competition Policy has now been referred to a Committee of Secretaries for “further consideration”. [Press Release]

We’re Back !!

Yup. the title says it all. 🙂

Will start updates as soon as the next significant competition law issue arises. Of course, there are some very important competition law developments, both in India and abroad, which have taken place recently so will try to directly or indirectly cover them through other posts.

A Brief Holiday

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Unfortunately, due to my hectic work schedule (what with a dissertation, an internship and LLM. preparations !! ). I am unable to find time to properly update this Blog on a regular basis, which is why i’m now having to force myself to take a break from posting on this forum.  In other words, there will be no more new posts on this Blog till the end of May.

I understand that there will be lot of new developments (not to mention some important Orders of both the CCI and COMPAT) during this period but regretfully, I will not be writing about them. However, I will continue to put up relevant news updates and other intersting articles on the facebook  page of the Blog.

Till then, cheers. And hope to see you once again soon. 🙂

Blog Notice For DLF Matter

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This is to inform all that I will not be writing any more posts on the DLF competition matters currently pending before the COMPAT (and which in all probability will end up before the Supreme Court irrespective of who wins). This is because I’ve now become a part of the research team working on the matter (as an intern) and so it’s best if I refrain from discussing it too much.

To give you the latest (and final update), the matter is presently being heard on a daily basis. Furthermore, DLF filed two more appeals against the supplementary orders passed by the CCI which came up for hearing today. To be fair to DLF, the appellants aren’t just nitpicking. They have raised some extremely testing questions. Justice Sirpurkar appeared deep in thought by the end of the day on what course of action to take.

Honestly, the hearings are a lot of fun !! 😀 Justice Sirpurkar has a good sense of humour and the counsels aren’t exactly being polite to each other. 😉 Do come and watch if possible. Next date is on 12 February, 2013, Tuesday.