India, a new global economy, adopted a new competition law. India is transitioning from an unfair competition law with weak anti-trust provisions to a full-fledged competition law.
India's old law is the Monopolies and Restictive Trade Practices Act (MRTPA) in 1969.
MRTPA had become obsolete in some respects and there was a need to shift the focus from curbing monopolies to promoting competition.
The Parliament passed a real competition law in December 2002. The Competition Act, 2002, came into existence in January 2003, and the Competition Commission of India was established in October 2003.
The new law prohibits cartels, other anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and anti-competitive mergers.
Before the enforcement, a petition was filed with the Supreme Court of India challenging the constitutional validity of the act on the ground of separation of powers.
After the disposal of the petition by the Supreme Court, the Government introduced certain amendments to the Act in the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2006.
