As the Indian economy moved from a regulated regime towards an open market regime, there was an urgent requirement to enact a legislation for fostering competition and preventing anti-competition activities. In line with the international trend and to cope with changing realities, the existing Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 was reviewed and the Competition Act, 2002 was enacted.

The enactment has two basic elements: Competition Policy consisting of set of policies that enhance competition, give primacy to market forces, allow entry and exit, reduce controls, minimize regulation, etc. and  Competition Law to prohibit anti competitive practices and regulate potentially anti competitive mergers; and prevent unwarranted government/regulatory intervention. However, ever since the enactment of the Competition Act, there has been a raging debate on various issues revolving around the new enactment which is in a nascent stage of its development. While the Act primarily aimed to repeal the M.R.T.P. Act and to dissolve the M.R.T.P. commission, such a notification is yet to be issued by the Central Government, as a result of which MRTP continues to be in force.

There is a lack of understanding amongst different stakeholders and groups in order to ensure competitiveness of the markets, compliance of various regulatory issues and application of competition law in a commercial context. The seminar aims discussing and clarifying both the most basic as well as the most complicated and critical issues of Competition law vis a vis the erstwhile MRTP Act, the three core themes of Anti-competitive Agreements, Abuse of Dominance and Regulation of Combinations (Mergers and Acquisitions regulation) and sectoral analysis in reference to Telecommunication Sector and Intellectual Property Laws.