Competition Commission of India today held a round-table meeting with top companies of the country on the subject of “Competition Compliance for Good Corporate Governance”. Representatives of trade associations/industry associations such as ASSOCHAM, FICCI, CII and PHDCCI also attended the meeting.
Addressing the representatives of the companies, Mr. Sachin Pilot, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, stressed that the foremost objective of Competition Commission of India is to ensure protection of consumers. Underlying the importance of healthy competition, the Minister said that a fair Regulatory environment would help the Indian economy in moving up higher in the global business index.
Mr. Sachin Pilot advised CCI that it should keep an eye on situations that appear to be anti-competitive such as rising profit margins inspite of reducing production levels. He emphasized that Govt. believes in consultation before taking a decision. The amendments to the Competition Act have already been sent to the Standing Committee of the Parliament and he was hopeful that after seeking views/ suggestions, the amendments to the Competition Act would be given a legislative sanction.
During the round-table discussion, number of suggestions/ views were put up by the corporates as well as industry associations. Some companies requested the Govt. to ensure level playing field between public and private sector. The Minister assured that no reverse discrimination for govt. companies would be normally allowed though he was of the view that the social objectives of the public sector was also to be kept in mind while deciding a level playing field.
Interacting with the corporate during the round-table discussion, Mr. Ashok Chawla, Chairman, CCI, informed that since its inception, orders have been issued in more than 230 cases out of the 320 cases investigated by CCI. Mr. Chawla sought to nullify any suggestions of any tilt towards govt sector in matters concerning Competition Act and informed that CCI has issued orders in 21 cases where govt. enterprises were a party.
Chairman, CCI suggested the corporates to set up a high level Competition Compliance Committee in their respective organizations to review competition compliance. He also informed that SEBI would be requested to include competition compliance under Section 49 of Listing Agreements.
Representatives of trade associations gave wide gamut of suggestions such as widening of advocacy efforts of CCI, listing the dominant players in each sector, incentives to companies with better competition compliance record etc. CCI assured that the suggestions made in the Round Table meeting would be kept in mind.
The round-table meeting held today by CCI with the corporates was part of advocacy initiatives of Competition Commission of India. Top 100 Indian companies based on the market capitalization were invited for the meeting.