India's Competition Commission relaxes M&A regulations
11 May 2011
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) today notified new, relaxed regulations for corporate mergers and acquisitions, making it mandatory for corporates to seek the CCI's prior approval for only high-value transactions.
Under the new regulations, all corporates with a turnover of over Rs1,500 crore will have to approach the CCI for approval before merging with another firm.
Only proposals involving companies having combined assets of Rs1,000 crore or more, or a combined turnover of Rs3,000 crore or more, will come under the purview of the CCI.
The regular fee for filing of applications will be Rs50,000 against Rs40,00,000 at present. Only in exceptional cases will the parties have to pay a fee of Rs10,00,000 and use the File II form.
CCI perusal is mandatory only if the net assets of the target company (the company being acquired) is Rs200 crore or above or it has a turnover of Rs600 crore or more.
All cases where decisions have been taken before the new regulations have been notified will be exempted even if the merger has not been fully consummated.
