India must revisit its 2011 Competition Policy draft. EU, Australia, and Japan are ahead

The Print, December 09, 2021

By Arvind Mayaram, Garima Sodhi and Bhaavi Agrawal

The Indian competition regulation experience has been truly unique. While competition law in India has been on the statute for more than 50 years with the introduction of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act in 1969, efforts to introduce a competition policy have not been fructified.

Competition policy has a broader set of objectives to achieve competitiveness in the economy through the instrumentality of laws, policies, and programmes in all the areas of economic activities.

Resonating with this year’s World Competition Day theme of ‘Competition Policy for an Inclusive and Resilient Economy’, we should stride towards actualising a holistic National Competition Policy (NCP) for India.

It is all the more important for India’s post-Covid recovery, particularly with a focus on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). NCP has the potential to aid other government efforts in this direction by removing entry barriers restricting the participation of MSMEs. This, in turn, would help in countering the rising unemployment rate in India.

Arvind Mayaram is former Union finance secretary and chairman, CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition. Garima Sodhi is Senior Fellow, CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition. Views are personal.

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