Economic policies should complement competition law: Veerappa Moily

Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily today said policies relating to foreign investment, international trade and intellectual property rights should complement the competition policy as these sectors are prone to natural monopolies.

At a conference of CUTS International, Moily identified infrastructure, FDI and international trade, intellectual property rights and financial markets as sectors which may affect competition the domestic market.

"Competition law and policy need to be supported and made compatible with other complementary pro-development policies that can have a bearing on economic development," Moily said.

The Ministry is working on the National Competition Policy and has held consultations with various stakeholders as well as state governments.

The new competition policy -- which has been billed as the herald of the next wave of economic reforms in the country -- seeks to integrate the principles of competition in various economic policies of the government and reap the benefits of the competition therein.

The basic premise of the competition policy -- the draft of which has not been made public yet -- is that the government should not restrict market activity any more than is necessary to achieve its social and other goals.

Earlier, the Minister had said the draft of the National Competition Policy is likely to be placed before the Cabinet for approval in December and by January, 2012, the final policy.