Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

13-August-2012 18:12 IST

No exemption provided to any Sector under the Competition Act, 2002

The Competition Act, 2002 does not provide exemption to any sector including telecom and banking sectors from its ambit.

This was stated in the Rajya Sabha by Shri R.P.N. Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in reply to an USQ question today.

Department of Financial Services has approached Ministry of Corporate Affairs for granting exemption to loss making and failing organisations in the insurance sector and the banking sector from the purview of Competition Act, 2002. However, no such specific communication has been received from Department of Telecommunication seeking exemption in Telecom Sector.

MoS also informed Rajya Sabha that in the proposed Draft National Competition Policy, a Cabinet Committee on Competition has been proposed to inter-alia look into conflicts between regulators. The draft policy is at consultations stage at present.

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RC/JR

Sectoral exemption under Competition Act not available; policy proposes committee to address regulator conflicts and financial sector requests noted. No sector is exempted from the Competition Act; the Department of Financial Services has requested exemption for loss making and failing insurance and banking entities but no statutory exemption exists, and the Department of Telecommunication has not sought exemption. The Draft National Competition Policy proposes a Cabinet Committee on Competition to address conflicts between regulators; the draft is at the consultation stage.