The corporate affairs ministry Monday said the focus of further reforms will be on designing of competition law to remove high entry barriers and provide easy access for those suffering from anti-competitive conduct. 

While addressing a 'roadshow on competition law', jointly organised by the Competition Commission of India and industry body CII, corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas stressed the need for demystifying competition law by hardwiring the principles into business philosophy and government policy framework. 

"The focus of further reforms will be the designing of competition law in the country to remove high entry barriers and provide easy access for those suffering from anti-competitive conduct," he said. 

Srinivas also highlighted the role of the competition law review committee, which has been mandated to consider the challenges posed to competition law and offer solutions. 

The committee will consider whether more benches are required, calculation of penalties and whether to criminalise any conduct under the Competition Act, according to him. 

Sudhir Mital, chairperson, CCI, emphasised the importance and impact of the CCI's orders, citing the voluntary course correction by various enterprises. 

He noted that the CCI's aim is to achieve fair markets, and the penalties imposed are a means to achieve this end, as this ultimately benefits consumers. 

On the merger control front, Mital said the changes to the CCI's regime to increase pre-filing consultations has shorten the timelines for approvals. 

"This is aligned with the government's aim of improving the ease of doing business and is reflected in reduction in the average clearance time from 24 days to 17 days," he said. 

Emphasising on the importance of outreach programmes, he said this is the first of the series of roadshows planned for this year. The next roadshow has been planned on November 5 in New Delhi with the thematic focus on cartels and public procurement, he added. #casansaar (Source - PTI, Economic Times)