The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was approved by the Lok Sabha and instructs the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to assess penalties against entities based on their global turnover rather than the current practise of only taking into account pertinent market turnover.
Fiance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the bill for consideration, and it was approved without discussion in the lower house amidst commotion as opposition members continued to demonstrate and call for a JPC investigation into the Adani-Hindenburg issues.
Before passing of the proposed legislation, the government made certain amendments to the original Bill. One of the changes is with respect to the turnover that will be considered for the imposition of penalty in case of competition law violations.
“ . . . turnover means global turnover derived from all products and services by a person or an enterprise,” according to the amendments that were approved by the Lok Sabha. The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was introduced in Parliament on August 5 last year. It was then referred to the parliamentary standing committee on finance. The panel tabled its report in Parliament on December 13.
The Act was introduced in 2002, and it was later amended in 2007 and 2009. The law's antitrust clauses went into effect in May 2009, and two years later, in May 2011, CCI began vetting mergers and acquisitions.