Abuse of Dominant Position

Preventing abuse of dominant position appears to be one of the key focus areas of the CCI’s enforcement policy. ELP’s Competition Law & Policy team has handled the first abuse of dominance case in India, on behalf of the complainant, where the CCI found in favour of the complainant. Our team continues to represent various enterprises for alleged abuse of dominance claim before the CCI, COMPAT and the Supreme Court of India. Additionally, the team has also advised several domestic and foreign firms with significant market power in designing their pricing and discount programs with clients ranging from sectors including information technology, polymer and automotive components.

Merger Control 

Our team assists clients across a varied range of services from end to end of a transaction, which entails identifying competition law issues at the due diligence stage, determining application of merger control provisions in the earlier stages and preparing merger filings for it to be filed with the CCI at the start of the trigger to save timelines and get expedited approvals. 

We assist with: 

• advice on structuring of transactions for the purposes of merger control; 

• applicability of merger control provisions on transactions and where required, filing merger notifications with the CCI, including preparation of merger filings and follow-up responses to questions raised; 
• preparing detailed economic market analysis, including engaging an economist (where required) to be presented to the CCI as part of the notification; and 
• conducting pre-merger consultations with the CCI to seek clarity on contentious issues. 

Our group has worked closely with domestic and multinational enterprises and international law firms to provide advice on various aspects of the merger control regulations. Members of the team have also worked on various merger notifications, including some complex Form II merger notifications filed with the CCI. 

Cartel Investigations

With the threat of heavy fines and wide powers of search and seizure enjoyed by the CCI, large corporations are increasingly wary of potential cartel investigations. Our team has represented clients in the most high-profile cartel investigations initiated by the CCI in cases dealing with anti-competitive horizontal agreements and cartels. The team also provides proactive advice to clients on potential cartel investigations and provides solution-oriented advice on steps to be taken to avoid scrutiny by the CCI. Additionally, we have also advised clients on filing ‘information’ before the CCI on cartelization as part of a broader leniency strategy and is representing various entities in pending cartel investigations before the CCI and COMPAT.