The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2012 introduced in the Lok Sabha inter-alia, proposes to enable Competition Commission of India (CCI) to conduct search and seizure operations directly for carrying out effective investigations into unfair market practices. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister Of Corporate Affairs, Shri Sachin Pilot, said that the Bill is presently under reference to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance for examination and report.

The Minister also informed the House that the Commission, up to 25.11.2013, has imposed penalty of Rs. 8,024.18 crore on 154 parties in various cases out of which an amount of Rs. 19.37 crore has been recovered and deposited in Government Account from 58 parties. The penalty is recoverable as per the provisions contained in CCI (Manner of Recovery of Monetary Penalty) Regulations, 2011.

Search and Seizure Powers for competition regulator proposed, enabling direct investigations and monetary penalty recovery mechanisms. The proposed amendment would grant the competition regulator direct search and seizure powers to strengthen investigations into unfair market practices; the Bill is under parliamentary committee review. Monetary penalties have been imposed on multiple parties and partial recovery of those penalties is effected pursuant to the regulations governing the manner of monetary penalty recovery, with recovered sums deposited into government accounts.