Jumping The Gun Under Indian Competition Law - An Overview

Background

'Jumping the Gun', the phrase which derives its origin probably from the track and field races, in the context of merger control regime refers to a variety of actions that merging parties might enter into prior to closing to facilitate the merger and expedite the integration of the companies. This assumes specific significance for Indian anti-trust practitioners, as Indian merger control regime covered under the Competition Act, 2002 ("Act") is a suspensory one and prohibits implementation of notifiable combinations¹ unless approved by the Competition Commission of India ("CCI"/ "Commission") or expiry of the 210 days review period following notification², with a view to ensure that the parties to the combination continue to compete as they were competing before the proposed combination³.