An Analysis on Anti-Competitive Agreements in India

The Competition Act, 2002, came in existence with the motive to prevent practices detrimental to competition, promote competition, protect interest of consumers, and ensure free trade. The previous Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTP) became outdated and needed to be replaced. The 2002 Act aims to regulate practices that harm competition and replace the MRTP Act. The focus of this paper is on Anti-Competitive Agreements, which are agreements that negatively affect market competition, such as price-fixing, market allocation etc. Section 3 of the competition Act prohibits such kind of agreements and declares them as void. It also states provisions for horizontal anti-competitive agreements and vertical anti competitive agreements. There are some limited exemptions, such as for intellectual property holders. The primary goal of these provisions is to promote healthy competition, benefit consumers and contribute to public welfare.