Areas of Service

Competition Law

Our Competition Law Expertise

In pursuit of globalization, India has responded by opening up its economy, easing licensing requirements and resorting to liberalization. Inevitably, globalization and liberalization also leads to competition in the market place. As a corollary to this, India has enacted a new competition law called the Competition Act, 2002 ("Competition Act") that has replaced the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 ("MRTP Act"), and provides institutional support to healthy and fair competition. The Competition Act, plays a pivotal role in consummation of any transaction inter alia domestic, inbound or outbound or any overseas transaction which has an effect on competition in India. With the recent amendments in the Competition Act, several loopholes have also been plugged to make for a stricter regime.

Competition Law is an area of practice in which Nishith Desai Associates ("NDA" or the "Firm") has built a significant expertise. The Competition Law Practice at NDA endeavors to combine its rich international experience and expertise in domestic laws / regulations and international antitrust regulations combined with its research capabilities to devise innovative structures and provide strategic advice on combination clearance, behavioral pattern of the entities viz. anti competitive agreements and abuse of dominance as well as assist in litigation before Competition Commission of India ("CCI"), the Competition Appellate Tribunal ("COMPAT") and other courts of judicature. We have developed a unique set of skills in Competition Law by successfully leveraging our cross-border specialization, experience and research capabilities to develop a vibrant Competition Law practice.

The Competition Act has been fully notified. Whilst the provisions regulating 'anti-competitive agreements' and 'abuse of dominance' were brought into force in 2009, provisions relating to merger control were brought into force in 2011. As a result the archaic MRTP Act and the MRTP Commission stands repealed and dissolved.

Scope of Services

Our Competition Law practice area encompasses the following areas:

• Strategic advice on Competition Law issues: The Firm advises on legal, strategic and compliance issues related to the Competition Act. The Firm provides practical solutions, on the basis of the extensive domain knowledge of the relevant industries, to complex legal problems that arise in the competition law space.
• Documentation: The Firm undertakes drafting and review of term sheets, definitive agreements, non-compete agreements, non-disclosure agreements, franchise agreements, escrow agreements, stock swap agreements, employment agreements et al., to minimize the issues of competition law viz: anti competitive agreements and / or abuse of dominance which could arise before the Competition Commission of India ("CCI").
• Competition Law Applications and Filings: Once the substantive provisions of the Competition Act are in force, the Firm shall undertake filings for and representing clients before the CCI, in conjunction with other experts, with respect to applications for the clearance of combinations where such combinations exceed the applicable threshold limits specified in the Competition Act in terms of assets or turnover.
• Regulatory advice: The Firm provides regulatory review and advice with respect to issues and behavioral pattern of enterprises and / or transactions undertaken by foreign / domestic enterprises, which could have implications under the Competition Act.
• Litigation: The Firm has a robust Dispute Resolution Practice with members having skill and expertise to represent clients in different forums ranging from the CCI to the Supreme Court of India.

Representative Clients

NDACompLaw(at)nishithdesai.com