Competition Commission of India (CCI)
Mint reported:
Paytm appoints Pallavi Shroff as board member to boost legal firepower
Benglauru: The move by payments firm Paytm to appoint veteran lawyer Pallavi Shroff as a board member is an indicator that
“The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) on Thursday set aside an order of fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) in a case of alleged abuse of dominant position and anti-competitive practices by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and its Indian arm. Dismissing the CCI findings, Compat ordered a fresh probe in the matter,” reported Mint.
AZB & Partners recent lateral partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi has on 8 August obtained phase 1 merger clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for Ultratech Cement’s Rs 16,189 crore ($2.4bn) acquisition of the cement assets of the Jaypee Group.
Saikrishna & Associates won today for Micromax in the Delhihigh court against Ericsson, which had challenged the validity of a CCIinvestigation into its grant of patents contemporaneously with otherlegal challenges against it.
Late Monday night, LafargeHolcim said the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the deck for one part of its India plans, which involves selling Lafarge’s cement business in the country. Mint reported that the deal to sell its entire cement portfolio could be valued at Rs 10,000 crore and that deal will now likely go through.
However, LafargeHolcim’s struggle with the regulatory red tape will not end there, as the company is still awaiting clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for its 2013 restructuring plan involving its units ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cement Ltd. The plan was submitted for FIPB approval in October 2013.
reported http://www.livemint.com/.
Initially, AZB & Partners with Vinod Thall-TTA drafted in on competition aspect acted for Lafarge, while Holcim was represented by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Legally India had reported in August of last year following the CCI order for the to-be-merged $44bn entity to slim down, which it did by divesting Rs 5,000 crore of cement plans to Birla.
After the deal with Birla fell apart acrymoniously, it is understood that Cyril Amarchand took over as the lead counsel on the Lafarge Holcim merger.
Correction: The original version of this story erreneously stated that AZB and Vinod Dhall-TTA had also acted on the second leg of the deal.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) appointed former Competition Commission of India (CCI) chairman Ashok Chawla as its strategic advisory board member, effective 15 January 2016. He was also assist CAM with advocacy and policy advice.
"Devender Kumar Sikri, a former Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was on Thursday appointed as chairman of fair-trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI),” reported the PTI and others.
The former secretary in the ministry of women and child development, registrar general of census, and collector of Rajkot and Jamnagar, is set to be chairman of the CCI for two-and-a-half years.
He succeeds Ashok Chawla, whose term ended on 7 January. Reportedly 100 bureaucrats, economists and six sitting CCI members applied for the post.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sought expressions of interest [http://www.cci.gov.in/sites/default/files/tender/EOI%2030%2012%2015.pdf(EOI)] from parties for publication of compendium of their orders for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The commission has laid down the condition that the tenders should be from publishers who are engaged in publication of law books and or law journals for at least three years with an average annual turnover of Rs 1 crore from law publications in the last three years.
The tender says that the need arose from the demand for “authentic compendium of the orders pronounced by the commission” as evolution of competition jurisprudence in Indian jurisdiction is in nascent stage. The commission would publish compendium of orders along with head notes of each order in partnership with a reputed law publisher.
The last date to submit EOI is 31 January 2016.
Around 100 bureaucrats, economists and the six members of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have applied to become CCI chairman, reported The Indian Express, as incumbent chairman Ashok Chawla is due to retire on 7 January 2016.
The Express reported that “urban development secretary Madhusudan Prasad; Bimal Julka, who retired as I&B secretary in August 2015; Subir Gokarn, former RBI Deputy Governor and Harsha Vardhana Singh, former deputy director general at WTO” are among the applicants, alongside current CCI members SL Bunker, UC Nahta, MS Sahoo, Sudhir Mital, Augustine Peter and GP Mittal.
The CCI post has seen twice the 50 applicants seen for the post of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman, where UK Sinha is set to step down on 17 February 2016.
Former commerce secretary and legal sector liberalisation architect Rajeev Kher assumed office as member at the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) yesterday, according to its website, filling one of the two empty member posts which were last occupied at the tribunal in May 2014 and August 2014.
Google Inc. has violated Russian antitrust laws by requiring that manufacturers pre-install its services on their devices, the local antitrust authority ruled, in a blow to the Internet giant’s bid to overtake domestic search-market leader Yandex NV
reported Bloomberg and others.
Late last month Google was hit with an unfavourable preliminary report from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) director general in respect of its search advertising business, which could result in a multi-crore fine if the CCI agrees.
App-based taxi operator Ola’s parent company ANI Technologies has won a favourable majority decision from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which declined to pass any interim order around the allegation that the company was involved in illegal predatory pricing.
On Monday the Economic Times reported that the director general (DG) of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has submitted a damning report of Google, finding a prima facie case that Google has abused its dominant position.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has won a favourable landmark report from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) director general for its client Bharat Matrinmony and an NGO against internet giant Google, which was represented by AZB & Partners and Economic Laws Practice (ELP).
Chennai-based law firm Surana & Surana has lost in its Competition Commission of India (CCI) complaint against computer maker Dell India, which the law firm alleged had entered “the Indian market of computers and computer hardwares via predatory pricing and it offered its products at ridiculously low prices compared to what was offered by its competitors in India”.
The PTI reported:
In a fresh order against DLF, Competition Commission has found the realty giant guilty of indulging in “unfair and abusive” business practices in sale of apartments in a Gurgaon housing project.
CCI has asked DLF Gurgaon Home Developers Private Limited and its group companies to “cease and desist” from such unfair trade practices, but did not impose any fresh monetary penalty as Rs 630 crore fine has already been slapped on DLF for similar violation during the same period in a separate case.
Ola Cabs is facing a complaint in the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for spending more money on discounts and incentives on customers and drivers compared to the revenue it is earning, reported the Business Standard.
The CCI directed its director general to conduct an investigation on Ola owner ANI Technologies on the complaint of Chennai-based Fast Track Call Cab against it for predatory pricing and unfair trade practices under the Competition Act 2002.
Noting a preliminary finding of abuse of dominant position against ANI the Commission observed that it is “spending around Rs 574 [per trip] while earning an average revenue of Rs 344 leading to a direct loss of Rs 230 per trip”.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has only recovered 0.74 per cent out of Rs 12,474 crore of fines it has imposed, reported the PTI, with the vast majority (Rs 12,292.57 crore) having been stayed on appeal and with Rs 61.10 crore having been dismissed, according to corporate affairs minister Arun Jaitley.