Intelligence

The Competition Commission of India has issued significant rulings on anti-competitive practices in agricultural input distribution and tire procurement, while also approving major acquisitions in sports franchising and education technology. These decisions demonstrate the CCI's active enforcement against bid-rigging and boycott campaigns, alongside its assessment of market consolidation in emerging sectors.

The Competition Commission of India (Commitment) Amendment Regulations, 2026 recalibrate key timelines, introduce a structured re-filing mechanism for defective applications and align the framework with the CCI General Regulations, 2024.

India has two regulatory layers- sector regulators since the 1990s and the CCI, which alone handles competition matters since 2002, and this has created real gaps and clashes, as seen in telecom, electricity, aviation, and conflicting court rulings. The article argues this isn’t a genuine conflict but a design flaw as the CCI is best placed to judge competition consistently, while sectoral regulators bring technical expertise the CCI lacks. This gap was flagged back in 2011 in a policy draft that was never implemented. The article proposes practical fixes, mandatory coordination, sunset clauses for outdated rules, and a revived regulator forum.

On 13 July 2026, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties exceeding ₹142 crore on HP India and several reselers under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) for cartelisation and bid rigging in the sale and supply of HP personal system products, including laptops, desktops, workstations and accessories (Computers Case), and ink and toner cartridges (Cartridges Case). The orders arose from lesser penalty applications filed by HP India under Section 46 of the Competition Act read with the CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009.

India’s proposed Digital Competition Law has evolved through several stages, from the 2022 Parliamentary Committee report and the 2024 Committee on Digital Competition Law’s draft Bill, through a 2025 government reconsideration, to renewed Parliamentary backing for an ex-ante framework in August 2026. Drawing on comparative experience from the EU, UK, and Japan, this article argues that legislative reform must be matched by a strengthened Competition Commission of India if ex-ante regulation is to work in practice.

India's Competition Commission imposed penalties totaling approximately INR 138.98 crore on HP India Sales Private Limited for bid-rigging in Government e-Marketplace tenders. The landmark rulings clarify when original equipment manufacturers and their resellers become horizontal competitors, and establish that first-in leniency applications do not automatically guarantee full immunity from penalties.