The Competition Act, 2002 was enacted by the Parliament of India and governs the Indian competition law. The Act received the presidential assent in 2003. It came into existence after the previous law The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP Act) was repealed. This was done based on the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee.

The main objectives of the act are :

• To Prohibit anti-competitive agreements and to prevent practices that harm the competition.
• To Prohibit abuse of dominant position by enterprises and to promote and sustain competition in markets.
• To Regulate combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control, and M&A), which can cause or is likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on the competition within India.
• It aims at establishing a competitive environment in the Indian economy. The objectives of the Commission are:
• To protect the interests of consumers.
• To ensure freedom of trade.

What was COMPAT?

The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has been established by the Central Government to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction issued or decision made or order passed by the CCI. The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007 was enacted to amend the Competition Act, 2002. This led to the establishment of the CCI and the Competition Appellate Tribunal.

The government replaced the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in 2017.

Competition Commission of India – Members Composition

The members of the CCI are appointed by the Central Government. The Competition Commission of India is currently functional with a Chairperson and two members.

The Chairperson and every other Member shall be a person of ability, integrity, and who, has been, or is qualified to be a judge of a High Court, or, has special knowledge of, and professional experience of not less than fifteen years in international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance, accountancy, management, industry, public affairs, administration or in any other matter which, in the opinion of the Central Government, may be useful to the Commission.

India's competition law is known as Antitrust law in USA.