Merger Control Thresholds Enhanced And Group Exemption Extended

On March 4, 2011, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ("MCA") had issued initial set of notifications under the Competition Act, 2002 ("Competition Act") extending certain exemptions with respect to acquisitions, merger or amalgamations ("Combinations") involving small target/enterprises and limited the scope of the definition of "Group" only to entities where the voting rights in excess of 50% (fifty percent) could be exercised. These exemptions were valid for a period of 5 (five) years from the date of the notifications. On the eve of the expiry of these exemptions, on March 4, 2016, MCA has issued fresh notifications in relation to the same, which were published in the official gazette on the same date to take immediate effect ("2016 Exemption Notifications").