Panel Discussion on “Revisiting age-old problems in search of cutting edge solutions in The Banking and Competition sector” [March 8th 2020]

On March 8th, 2020, the Centre, in conjunction with the Centre For Studies in Banking And Finance, organized a symposium on the theme ““Revisiting age-old problems in search of cutting edge solutions in The Banking and Competition sector”. The symposium was graced by the presence of several prominent members in the finance and competition sector such as Dr. K.D. Singh, the Joint Director Competition Commission of India, Mr. Ujjwal Mehta, a distinguished member of CUTS-CIER in Jaipur as well as Mr. Gautam Chawla, an eminent Counsel placed at Trilegal. As the theme suggests, the deliberation primarily focused on dissecting and analysing the archaic problems existing in the competition sector especially in the backdrop of the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which proposes significant changes to the existing scenario in the sphere of competition law and policy. To get the ball rolling, the distinguished speakers initially discussed the Report of the Competition Law Review Committee, which provided various recommendations for amendments to substantive and procedural provisions of the Competition Act, 2000, in order to realign the law with the progressively changing business landscape. The discussion proceeded towards scrutinizing the Draft Amendment Bill in order to lay down the pre-existing concerns raised by various stakeholders in the market and the numerous ways in which the Bill effectively addresses them or in certain scenarios, fails to do so.

Panel Discussion on “Banking  Sector at the cross-roads of Disruption: Competition Law perspective” [ March 30, 2019]

On March 30 2019, the Centre with Centre for Studies in  Banking and Finance (CSBF) at  National Law University, Jodhpur (NLUJ)  collectively organized a one-day panel discussion on the theme “Banking  Sector at the cross-roads of Disruption: Competition Law perspective”. The esteemed panellists for the discussion included- Dr Geeta Gouri, Economist and Former Member of the Competition Commission of India; Prof. Vijay Kumar Singh, Professor of Law, UPES School of Law, Dehradun and Former Deputy Director (Law), Competition Commission of India; Ms Payal Malik, Adviser and Head, Economics Division of the Competition Commission of India; Ms. Soumya Hariharan, Partner, Competition Law Practice at Trilegal, Mumbai; Mr Rudresh Singh, Managing Associate, L&L Partners Law Offices, New Delhi; Mr Dhruv Rajain, Senior Associate, Competition Law Practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi; Mr Nalin Kumar, Senior Manager (Legal), ICICI Bank Ltd and Ms Divya Mohil, Senior Legal Counsel, Clix Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. The Panel Discussion was divided into two sessions with respective panellists. The first panel discussed the topic “Competition Law in the Banking Sector”, which covered various issues such as “Competition Scrutiny of Bank Mergers”, “Fintech: A Driver of ‘Competition’ in the Banking Industry”, “delineation of the relevant market in cases involving the service of providing particular loans”.

The second panel mostly focused on the “Recent Trends in Competition Law”, which included “A Review of Competition Jurisprudence in 2018” and other issues such as “Big data and competition law”, “Structural v. Behavioural Remedies”. The panel also discussed “CCI approval timelines in IBC cases”.

Panel Discussion on “Emerging Issues in Competition Law” [ September 16th-17th, 2017]

A panel discussion was organised by the Centre on September 16 & 17, 2017, on the theme- “Emerging Issues in Competition Law”. The panel constituted an array of guest speakers who are all renowned experts in the field of competition law. These included Ms Nisha Kaur Uberoi, Partner and Practise head, Trilegal; Mr Anshuman Sakle, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Ms Soumya Hariharan, Counsel, Trilegal; Shashank Sharma, Senior Associate, AZB and Partners and Mr Anand Venkataramani, Associate, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. The discussion was spread over three segments dealing with the themes of “Emerging issues on dominance in competition law”, “Other contemporary issues of competition law in India”, and “Careers in Competition law”. The panel in a two-day discussion, discussed various topics, ranging from “Big Data and Competition Law”, “Collective dominance” to “The scope of settlement in competition law”. The panel discussed the implication of the excessive consumer data held by the enterprises and how it is helping companies attain the dominant position and affect competition. Further, it went on to discuss the concept of collective dominance and the need to introduce such a concept in the regime citing numerous examples.

On its second day, the panel proceeded towards discussing various “jurisdiction tussles” between regulators, such as that between Telecom Regulatory and the Competition Commission of India. It went on to discuss “the competence of NCLAT in taking over the role of COMPAT”, the rationale behind it and the road ahead. The discussion proceeded towards identifying the “scope of settlement in competition law disputes”. Even though such a mechanism provides flexibility to the parties and saves substantial litigation cost, it is currently absent in the Indian regime. Keeping in mind the audience, a majority of which were law students, the panel discussed various “careers in competition law” and the various academic qualifications required to enter the field. The esteemed panellists also shared their experiences in practising in the field.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *