Competition agencies, regulators must ensure their actions are not at cross purposes: CEA

Competition agencies and sectoral regulators must ensure that their actions are not at cross purposes, the chief economic advisor has said.

“Regulators must seek to enhance fair practices in the industry they oversee. In contrast, competition agencies exercise their authority when necessary to strike down anti-competitive and unfair business practices. In addition to these ex-post actions, proactive measures must work to… protect competition in the market for continued growth,” V Anantha Nageswaran said at an event organised by the Competition Commission of India.

“However, regulators and competitive agencies must agree upon this ex-ante and ex-post balance between the two to avoid producing outcomes that work against the actions that either agency takes,” Nageswaran said.

The Competition Commission has been in the limelight recently due to its rulings against tech giant Alphabet. The government seeks to bolster the anti-trust watchdog with an amendment to the legislation.