CCI to set up regional offices in country’s eastern, western regions

Competition Commission of India will be setting up regional offices in eastern and western regions as the watchdog continues with efforts to strengthen advocacy activities as well as provide easier access to stakeholders.

In 2020-21, the regulator operationalized its first regional office in Chennai and it caters to the Southern states.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta on Friday said the regulator is in the process of setting up regional offices in the eastern and western regions.

The regional office in Chennai, which helps to enable easy accessibility to stakeholders, caters to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep.

”Along with strengthening advocacy outreach activities, the regional office is expected to facilitate enforcement by acting as a center for filing and receiving cases as well as facilitating investigation, follow-up court cases and online depositions in coordination with the Delhi office,” Gupta said.

Further, he noted that the advocacy initiatives undertaken by the CCI have evolved as a non-intrusive measure, highlighting a trust-based, acceptable and inclusive competition compliance regime among stakeholders.

The fair trade regulator has also taken various initiatives to ease the compliance burden by constantly and dynamically reviewing its processes to make them market-friendly, Gupta said while speaking at a conference organized by industry body CII.

Since its inception, the CCI has examined more than 1,100 cases of anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position in diverse sectors, including airlines, banking, capital markets, e-commerce, and digital markets.

”The instrument of enforcement has been applied judiciously, keeping in mind the specificities of the sector involved, market structure, and nature of contraventions,” Gupta said.