The antitrust and competition team at AZB & Partners had a strong year in the automotives sector, with multinational manufacturers engaging practice head Samir Gandhi, Hemangini Dadwal and Aditi Gopalakrishnan - with assistance from senior associates Gaurav Bansal and Akshat Kulshrestha - on a raft of proceedings before the CCI. Of particular note, the team secured successful non-infringement orders in cartelisation disputes, and extensive penalty reductions via leniency applications. Bharat Budholia leads on merger control matters, most recently for acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals sector. The team fields extensive experience in the digital and disruptive technologies space, with sports, oil and gas and aerospace clients also cited.

Khaitan & Co LLP’s competition and antitrust team stands out for its expertise in handling leniency applications, with recent successes seeing practice head Manas Kumar Chaudhuri, Sagardeep Rathi and principle associate Pranjal Prateek securing impressive 100% penalty waivers from the CCI. Anisha Chand and Rahul Singh led the team on numerous merger control approvals for high-value M&A transactions and joint ventures, across sectors including automotives, construction, natural resources and asset management. The team often represents clients in enforcement matters concerning unfair pricing, abuse of dominance and cartelisation. The highly regulated pharmaceuticals sector is also a point of focus.

Cartel investigations and abuse of dominance matters are points of focus of the antitrust and competition practice at L&L Partners Law Offices. Recent highlights for the team - which is co-led by GR Bhatia, Abdullah Hussain, Kanika Chaudhary Nayar and Rudresh Singh - involved extensive representations before the CCI, securing successful leniency applications for food and drink and insurance companies. Engagements are received from diverse, highly regulated sectors ranging from aviation, energy and auto parts to healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Merger control applications on high-value M&A deals and joint ventures are regularly referred to the practice, notably for a roster of global private equity funds, asset managers and public sector utilities. Clients’ interests are also represented during CCI investigations into abusive market practices.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co fields an extensive bench of antitrust and competition experts covering the breadth of knowledge for a client roster of multinational clients. On the merger control front, practice head Pallavi Shroff, Shweta Shroff Chopra and Aparna Mehra are advising on high-profile M&A reviews including Phase II clearances before the CCI for agriculture, manufacturing and private equity clients. Stand-out names on the enforcement side include Naval Chopra, Harman Singh Sandhu and Manika Brar. Highlights saw the team obtaining favourable penalty waivers in cartel proceedings before the CCI and NCLAT, while ongoing abuse of dominance proceedings are being handled by clients in the auto parts, chemicals, food and drink and oil and gas sectors.

Under the leadership of competition practice head Avaantika Kakkar, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is a notable name for large-value merger control procedures. Recent team highlights saw Kakkar, Anshuman Sakle and principle associates Kirthi Srinivas and Dhruv Rajain obtaining CCI approvals for market-entry exercises and global M&A deals. The client roster comprises multinational corporates and private equity funds spanning the retail, pharmaceuticals, heavy industry, media and entertainment, investment management and IT sectors. Extensive competition analysis for joint ventures are also handled, with ongoing engagements being handled for automotive and auto-components clients.

In a strong year for the contentious side of Kochhar & Co.’s competition and antitrust practice, Reeta Mishra represented a raft of multinational names in proceedings before the CCI and NCLAT concerning cartelisation and abuse of dominance claims. Furthermore, an extensive number of OMCs is engaging the team to defend allegations of cartelisation and collusive bidding. Chandrasekhar Tampi (who took over as practice head from the outgoing Piyush Gupta) leads on merger control instructions for big-name corporates in the shipping, transport, manufacturing, automotives and technology sectors.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan is steadily growing its antitrust and competition practice under the leadership of Charanya Lakshmikumaran, who leads on cartelisation and abuse of dominance disputes, CCI investigations, and advice on government tenders. Notable engagements for the latter come from pharmaceuticals and healthcare suppliers, while other sectors of strength include automotives, e-commerce, online retail, packaging, and manufacturing. Neelambera Sandeepan brings international trade knowledge to the team, as well as expertise in handling the breadth of merger control issues applicable to M&A transactions.

Dua Associates provides advice on antitrust and competition compliance initiatives, anti-competitive agreements, merger control filings for corporate transactions and restrictive trade practices. Kunal Mehra (who co-heads the practice with Robin David) is handling long-running abuse of dominance litigation in the oil and gas sector, involving appeals before the NCLAT against fines imposed by the CCI.

IndusLaw provides a full-service antitrust and competition practice for a broad corporate client roster which includes names in telecoms, e-commerce, healthcare, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and agriculture. Avimukt Dar is the key name for non-contentious engagements. Ongoing work in this space includes merger control applications for M&A transactions and equity investments, advice on business competition practices, and risk management advice.  Rahul Goel and Anu Monga left the firm in December 2020.

Atul Sharma leads the competition department at Link Legal with a focus on the aviation sector. Ongoing work highlights include Sharma and Abhishek Sharma’s representation of clients’ interests in Director General and CCI investigations into alleged price fixing and cartelisation. Further cited fields of expertise include merger control filings and issues pertaining to dominant company conduct.

The competition practice at Majmudar & Partners is focused on handling transactional issues for a global client roster of financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and FMCG businesses. Ongoing instructions for practice head Rukshad Davar involving advising on pre-merger notifications, merger control filings, compliance with cartel legislation and pricing arrangements.

P Ram Kumar heads the competition practice at Talwar Thakore & Associates, specialising in merger control mandates and cartelisation and abuse of dominance cases. Sectors of expertise include pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, energy, media, FMCG and healthcare.