The government on Thursday urged the sectoral regulators to frequently speak to each other and to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the fair trade regulator, in order to ensure that firms are adopting fair trade practices in their respective markets.
Addressing the top executives from India Inc along with the officials of CCI, corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot said the purpose of competition rules is to create an environment where people are not allowed monopolistic control over market, or resort to cartelisation. ??We have many sectoral regulators and we have CCI but they must talk to each other at the appropriate time,?? Pilot said.
During the meeting, he conveyed the message that consumer interest is supreme. ??If we work with the objective as to how to protect the interest of the consumer, having a competition programme is the way forward,?? he said.
Sachin said companies should ensure that the consumers are not burdened by the anti-competent practices that are taking place in some sectors. The meeting gains significance against the backdrop of increasing instances of complaints about companies abusing their dominant market positions or entering into anti-competitive pacts.
Recently, the CCI had met the representatives of various trade associations to sensitise them about healthy competition practices. Noting that the ministry is working on a National Competition Policy, Pilot said that some quarters have expressed difficulties in accessing the domain of the government run companies.
??PSUs feel we are very harsh on them, private companies feel we are very harsh on them, we want them to believe that we are not harsh on anybody, we just want to promote robust environment where competition takes place,?? Pilot said.
