After seven long months, India’s competition commission gets a new chairperson

The Competition Commission of India has appointed Punjab Cadre IAS officer Ravneet Kaur as its Chairperson. Kaur, the first woman who will take up the position was selected after a scrutiny of at least 40 shortlisted candidates. This will be the first time the CCI will get a woman chairperson.

Notably, there has been no full-time Chairperson for the competition regulator since Ashok Kumar Gupta demitted office in October 2022.

The approval for the 1988 batch officer, came from the Prime Minister's officer after recommendations were made by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, based on interviews conducted by the CCI Chairperson selection committee.

Her appointment comes as a huge relief for the Indian industry and CCI officials. With her joining, the quorum of three members required to decided on cases will be complete. Since October last year, CCI only had two members including an acting chairperson.

The lack of quorum had hampered the approval process for M&A deals, till the government waived off the requirement temporarily. However, Kaur is likely to have her hands full when she takes over as Chairperson. There are at least 200 cases related to anti profiteering & at least 50 cases related to anti-trust issues, including those against big tech companies which are pending.

The Finance Ministry had recently told parliament that CCI's investigation arm was conducting inquiries against several big tech firms and startups like Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, Apple, Whatsapp, Facebook, Google and BookMyShow.

The new Chairperson will have to take a call on the investigation into cement cartels and the probe against hospitals charging inflated prices for medicines and medical devices. She will also oversee the making of general rules and regulations to implement the Competition Amendment Bill 2023 and will be a key member of the Committee on Digital Competition Law, which is exploring the possibility of a new law to regulate market dominance of big tech companies.

CNBC-TV18 had earlier reported  that the government was working on appointing a new CCI chairperson soon.