Gun-Jumping And M&A: Recent Trends & Takeaways

India's merger control regime provides a mandatory and suspensory mechanism whereby the parties to a notifiable M&A transaction¹ (i.e., the combination) are mandatorily required to file a notification to the Competition Commission of India ("CCI") for its prior approval and are restricted from consummating the transaction in the absence of the said approval. In terms of Section 6(2A) of the Competition Act, 2002 ("Act"), the parties to a combination are obligated to observe a standstill period during which they are prohibited from giving effect to the combination until the approval of the CCI is received or 150 (One Hundred and Fifty) days have expired from the date of the filing of the notification. In case, the parties fail to observe the said standstill period and consummate their proposed combination, either in whole or in part, they are considered to have violated the Act and indulged in "gun-jumping".