Comparative Analysis of the Objectives of Competition Policy in India and EU in a Neo-Liberal Era (Market Economy)

Today competition law plays a significant role in a country’s economic growth. The progress of an economy, attracting investments, FDI is closely linked to the competition law goals and objectives that are pursued by the respective country. The origin of competition law could be traced to Sherman act 1890, around this time there was no specific policy pursuit as competition law was in a nascent stage. It was Robert Bork in 1970s, who highlighted that the goal of antitrust laws should be consumer welfare. Today India and EU pursue a multiple number of goals that include consumer welfare, protection of small players, innovation and efficiency. Both of them belong to Harvard School and have more or less similar objective with minute differences which will be highlighted in this paper. In a neo-liberal world there is role back of state with minimum or no state intervention has given to the impression that there is shift in government policies from consumer centric to pro-business centric. With this context in background, this paper tries to identify the core goals of competition law and its importance. In this light it tries to do a comparative study of goals of India and EU in a neo-liberal world. Further with the help of latest developments the author tries to identify whether there is shift in policy approach towards pro-business.