Sixth Set Of Amendments To The Combination Regulations

In an attempt to further streamline the merger control process, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has for the sixth time¹ since the introduction of the merger control regime in India, amended the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Combination Regulations).

The amendments to the Combination Regulations, notified on 9 October 2018(Amendment Regulations), reiterate the CCI's constant endeavour to bring greater clarity and transparency to the merger control process. More importantly, this set of amendments showcases the CCI's pro-business approach. The proposed amendments (at the draft stage) also sought to make sweeping changes to the exemption dealing with minority acquisitions by including additional caveats to its applicability, which would have vastly narrowed down its scope. Such amendments, if implemented, would have subjected most non-controlling