Indian Competition Commission revises leniency regime

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) aims to boost applications for leniency by confirming that up to four applicants may benefit from reduced penalties. Individuals may also benefit from leniency.

The CCI’s original leniency policy which was implemented in 2009 only granted reductions to the first three applicants.

The CCI has now confirmed that companies who approach the agency after the first three and provide “significant” information may benefit from reductions in the penalty of up to 30%.

The CCI granted leniency for the first time in January 2017 when it granted leniency to three companies and an individual who were involved in the railway electrics cartel.

Under the previous regime, it was uncertain whether fourth and later applicants and individuals could benefit from leniency. While the CCI has confirmed that individuals may benefit from leniency, it is not clear whether this will be extended to individuals who were not mentioned in the company’s application for leniency.

Further amendments to the policy allow the CCI to disclose leniency information with the approval of the CCI’s decision-making arm.  There is some uncertainty as to how this policy will operate and how it will affect the incentives on applicants to come forward with information. A more measured approach would have been to require companies to provide confidential and non-confidential versions of their applicants which would allow the CCI to disclose certain of the underlying information to other defendants and in its published decision.