Competition watchdog to soon introduce confidentiality regime: CCI chief Ashok Kumar Gupta

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will soon introduce a confidentiality regime in order to maintain sanctity of the information relating to any enterprises during a proceedings.

The regime which is in work is expected to provide a detailed mechanism to deal with the confidentiality request made by the parties along with the procedure and the parameters for such claims.

“CCI has also been continuously streamlining processes and procedures to meet the demands of the times. Presently, CCI is in the process of introducing a confidentiality regime in line with the best global practices in consultation with stakeholders," CCI chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta said at CII’s annual conference on competition law and practices.


It may be noted that CCI had in April proposed the changes in the existing practice and procedure which according to the competition watchdog are highly onerous and unsatisfactory not only for the parties but also for the regulator and have been causing unwanted litigation and delays in concluding the inquiry.

Gupta further said that CCI has been reviewing a steady rise in cases emanating from new-age markets, which range from across the verticals, such as search engines, online marketplace platforms, app stores, payment gateways, online travel, food aggregators, cab aggregators and social networking.

Such cases involving search bias, predatory pricing, deep discounting and leveraging have a direct interface with competition law regime, he noted.

The Commission’s role in such cases is to ensure that platforms, which act as a central point of interaction between different sides in digital markets, remain neutral, offer a level playing field and allow enterprises, big or small, to compete on merit.

He also emphasized on the importance of data particularly in merger assessment happenings in digital space.

Added that since not all digital markets are alike, interventions in merger reviews in technology markets to be guided by case-specific economic evidence.

“The challenge is to keep abreast of the developments in these markets and continue to evolve and refine the tools. This will help make timely interventions and strike a fine balance so that efficiency and innovation are not stifled and markets remain free from anti-competitive practices, Gupta noted.