Competition / Antitrust
The Practice
Khaitan’s Competition / Antitrust law team offers unrivalled expertise on competition law matters which is deeply rooted in strong understanding of the Indian business environment and pragmatic commercial considerations. The team’s formidable bench comprising 20+ dedicated practitioners, including 6 partners / executive directors are consistently ranked as the leading competition law practice and practitioners in India by legal directories such as Global Competition Review, Chambers & Partners, Who’s Who Legal, Legal 500, AsiaLaw and India Business Law Journal.
Our integrated pan-India team leverages its wide-ranging and multi-jurisdictional experience in competition laws across India, the United States of America, Ireland, and the European Union to provide holistic and committed assistance to clients in India and across the globe.
As one of the most experienced teams in Indian competition / antitrust enforcement matters, we are at the center of Indian competition law enforcement activity across sectors and the new-age economy. We regularly handle some of the most complex cartel, anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position cases. Over the years, with our involvement in arguably every important leniency matter in India, including several of them emanating from global cartels, we can take pride in our position as the “go to” trusted advisor on complex leniency matters.
Our result-oriented approach coupled with our thought leadership makes us a favorite with clients for competition law related work. We also effectively gauge and anticipate the priorities of the CCI in its inquiry and review processes, through curated sector-based expertise, to achieve effective results.
We also assist a diverse range of Indian and global clients in securing CCI’s approval for M&A transactions. Alongside securing merger clearances, we aid in preparing competition compliant transaction structures and documentation. Our expertise across sectors, key understanding of commercial needs, and strong knowledge of CCI’s processes and customs enable us to procure expedited and unconditional approvals in most transactions.
Our team has been consistently involved in securing clearances for a large number of complicated and marquee transactions including securing approvals for various Phase II investigations.
Apart from our general suite of competition law workstream, we combine our expertise in Indian and global competition laws to offer bespoke service / solutions such as:
a. Advising on complex cartel investigations often involving cross-border elements
b. Designing dawn raid programs and assisting in live scenarios
c. Advising on cutting-edge issues in tech and new-age markets
d. Advising on non-cartel agreements, joint venture related conduct, distribution issues, and intellectual property licensing issues
e. Handling Indian merger clearances in complex multi-jurisdictional merger control projects
f. Helping financial sponsors, private equity and minority investors in efficient deal structuring
g. Conducting trainings for competitively compliant behaviour
h. Providing assistance and guidance on commercial strategies and business models
i. Fending off hostile takeover attempts
Execution
The experience of our team combines expert anti-trust lawyers, ex-regulators, transaction lawyers and dispute resolution lawyers. These teams advise clients on a variety of matters including anti-trust dispute resolution, merger filings, leniency applications, compliance audits and dawn raids.
The Khaitan Advantage
We work with clients to address issues such as gun-jumping and in merger control cases, and help them with solutions on regulatory litigation. Our teams also work with external specialised senior advocates of the Supreme Court as required. We bring a well-rounded perspective on competition law matters based on the diverse backgrounds of our team members and the depth of our experience.
Clients appreciate the firm's high levels of partner involvement. As one source explains, "the firm sees to it that a senior partner is designated for the deal and is always available for solving issues."
Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific, 2018Key Contacts
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Manas Kumar Chaudhuri
Partner
Competition / Antitrust
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Anisha Chand
Partner
Competition / Antitrust
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Sagardeep Rathi
Partner
Competition / Antitrust
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Arshad (Paku) Khan
Executive Director
Competition / Antitrust
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Anshuman Sakle
Partner
Competition / Antitrust
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Pranjal Prateek
Partner
Competition / Antitrust
Key Deals
IHH Healthcare Berhad
Successfully assisted our clients in securing the CCI’s approval for acquisition of shares of Fortis Healthcare Limited and Fortis Malar Hospitals Limited. This transaction is the first acquisition of its kind in the healthcare sector to date which has been reviewed by the CCI.
read more +DENSO Corporation
Assisted DENSO Corporation in the acquisition of additional control and shares in Subros Limited. DENSO and SUBROS are directly competing entities and together are the biggest manufacturers of HVAC products in India. They enjoy a combined market share of over 50%. We were able to secure an expedited approval of the transaction without any commitments (behavioural and structural) and without any phase II investigation.
read more +Cadila Healthcare Limited and Zydus Wellness Limited
Assisted the clients in acquiring the business relating to Complan, Nycil, Glucon-D and Sampriti Ghee. The transaction allowed our clients to add to their existing line of successful FMCG products to become one of India’s leading FMCG manufacturers. We were able to secure the approval of the CCI in a phase I investigation.
read more +Eveready Industries India Limited
We filed a leniency application on behalf of Eveready for cartelisation in the market for flashlights. The CCI found prima facie contravention and ordered an investigation in the alleged cartelisation in the market for flashlights. Pursuant to the investigation, the CCI concluded that there was no cartelisation in the market.
read more +Tianqi Lithium Corporation
Advised on Indian competition law aspects of acquisition of shareholding of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc. (PotashCorp) in Soceidad Quimca y Minera (SQM). PotashCorp was divesting its shareholding in SQM pursuant to the conditional approval of the CCI of the Agrium-PotashCorp merger.
read more +InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.
Representing InterGlobe Aviation Limited in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal against the order of the CCI penalising InterGlobe Aviaition Limited and two other airlines for alleged cartelisation in imposition of Fuel Surcharge in the cargo business. InterGlobe Aviation Limited is India’s largest domestic airline.
read more +Gail (India) Limited
Successfully defended GAIL (India) Limited, the largest natural gas processing and distribution company in India, before the CCI in 10 clubbed cases involving allegations of abuse of dominant position. The decision provides valuable guidance on what may constitute abuse of dominant position through imposition of unfair terms or through unfair conduct in relation to contracts.
read more +India Glycols Limited
Represented India Glycols Limited in filing an information before the CCI and successfully obtained a favourable order against 18 (eighteen) Sugar Mills, Ethanol Manufacturers Association and Indian Sugar Mills Association for fixing the prices of ethanol and bid rigging in respect of the joint tender floated by the Public Sector Undertaking Oil Manufacturing Companies in the year 2013. The CCI imposed a total penalty of INR 370 million approx. (USD 5 million) on the sugar mills. Further, the CCI imposed a total penalty of INR 4.7 million approx. (USD 65,000) on the associations.
read more +ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
We obtained approval from the CCI for acquisition of a stake by MacRitchie Investment Pte. Ltd., Mr Ankit Bhati and Mr Bhavish Aggarwal in ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (ANI). We obtained an expedited approval in a case involving both horizontal and vertical concerns. ANI amongst other businesses, operates cab and restaurant aggregators under the brand names “Ola” and “Foodpanda”, respectively.
read more +Insights
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Competition Amendment Bill, 2023: More Than Just a Facelift of the 2022 Bill
read more + 09 Feb '23 -
Standing Committee Report Recommends Sweeping Changes to the Indian Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022
read more + 20 Dec '22 -
Recent Notifications Increase Scope of CCI’s Enquiry
read more + 12 Dec '22 -
Public Procurement Law around the World
read more + 08 Dec '22 -
Indian Antitrust Appellate Authority Remands Tyre Cartel Decision Back To CCI
read more + 05 Dec '22 -
India: Cartels
read more + 10 Nov '22