Abstract

India and the United States are the world's two largest economies, with India's GDP standing at ₹173.82 lakh crore and the United States' GDP at $28.269 trillion for the year 2023-24. As two of the world's leading economies, India and the United States each have their own approaches to maintaining a marketplace free from Unfair Trade Practices (UTP) and monopolies. In this Research paper, the doctrinal method of study has been implemented to see how each country uses its own legal strategies and framework to restrict the UTP specifically in relation to misleading advertisements and promote the competition. In India, The Competition Commission of India was established under the Competition Act of 2002 which aim to prevent anti-competitive acts, promote market competition, safeguard consumer interests and ensure free trade. It further aims to achieve these objectives through two primary strategies, i.e., advocacy and enforcement. Advocacy aims to raise awareness and provide training on competition issues, whereas enforcement targets businesses to ensure compliance. Together, these activities aim to foster fair competition and improve consumer welfare in Indian marketplaces and strictly prohibit anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position and certain combinations. In United States of America, the Congress passed the Sherman Act, in 1890, the first antitrust law, to promote open and unrestrained competition. This was followed by the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act in 1914, which, along with the Sherman Act, serve as the cornerstone for current federal antitrust legislation. These statutes ban unlawful mergers and business operations and courts interpret their application based on individual instances. This paper aims to critically analyze how these rules have evolved over the last century in both the countries to meet the needs of evolving markets and to preserve consumer fair competition by encouraging efficient business operations, lowering prices, and maintaining high standards.

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