CCI to hold national conference on public procurement & competition law in Delhi

Infusing competition in public procurement is a priority: CCI Chairperson

A ‘National Conference on Public Procurement & Competition Law’ is being organised by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in Delhi on 5th November, 2018 with a view to scale up Competition Advocacy and reach out to important stakeholders in public procurement ecosystem. Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley will be the keynote speaker and the chief guest for the National Conference.

The National Conference is being organised in association with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), a think tank under the aegis of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Ahead of the National Conference, CCI Chairperson Shri Sudhir Mital said that the National Conference is a unique initiative of the Commission which provides a platform to various stakeholders to engage in an active discussion with the policymakers and the industry on various aspects of competition law and public procurement. He further added that infusing competition and checking anti-competitive conduct in public procurement is a priority for the CCI.

The National Conference will be attended by senior policy makers from Central Government, various State Governments, participants from the public sector enterprises, industry, legal and finance professionals, corporate lawyers, academics, and other relevant stakeholders. The day-long event is to focus on public procurement, bid rigging, cartels and leniency. This event is the 2nd in the series of many Conferences and Roadshows which are being organised by the competition regulator at different locations. The first road show was organised in Mumbai on 15th October, 2018 with a focus on cartels, leniency and merger control.

Other dignitaries who would be sharing their views in the conference include Hon’ble Justice A.K. Sikri, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Mr. Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank India, and Dr. Sameer Sharma, Director General and CEO, IICA among others.

The National Conference will have two open house sessions. The first session will be on Infusing Competition in Public Procurement and will be chaired by Shri Karan Avtar Singh, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab, and the second session will be on bid-igging, cartels and leniency and will be chaired by Shri Augustine Peter, Member, CCI. The open house sessions will be followed up by a wrap up session by Smt. Smita Jhingran, Secretary, CCI.

Competition in public procurement promoted to curb bid rigging and cartels and encourage leniency measures. Infusing competition in public procurement is presented as a priority; the Competition Commission of India organised a national conference in Delhi to scale up Competition Advocacy, engage policymakers and stakeholders across governments, public sector enterprises and industry, and to address detection and deterrence of anti competitive conduct in procurement, with particular focus on bid rigging, cartels and promotion of leniency as an enforcement tool.