Overhauling Merger Regulations: A Look At India's Recent Regime Changes

The Indian merger control regime has undergone a significant overhaul. These changes had been anticipated since the amendments to the Competition Act, 2002 last year and the consequential draft regulations that had been issued and consultations with stakeholders that had been undertaken on the proposed changes. Whilst there have been periodic amendments to the merger control regime ever since it was brought into effect in 2011, this is the first comprehensive amendment which, inter alia, entirely replaces the existing set of exemptions with a brand-new set and introduces a new threshold related to the value of the transaction i.e., the deal value threshold.

Notwithstanding the significant nature of the amendments, the revised regime has been brought into effect immediately without allowing for any transition period. What's more, the new regime has been made applicable even to transactions that were signed, but had not closed, before the implementation of the