India's Competition Jurisprudence: In Need of a More Economic Approach?

Abstract

This issue of the Law and Policy Brief examines to what extent recent Indian decisions in competition law follow an economic approach. Three decisions in different areas of competition law and at different stages of the enforcement process are discussed from the perspective of examining their fidelity to economic theory. The first case considers the Indian Supreme Court’s views on the goals of Indian competition law, the second case examines a recent decision on resale price maintenance and finally this paper discusses CCI’s preliminary views on the relevance of market power to competition law. The objective of this paper is to throw light on the manner in which economics is being employed in competition law in India. This paper concludes that India does not follow a strictly economic approach to competition law.

Keywords: Competition Law, Antitrust Law