Amazon-Witzig bid to acquire Birla's retail store chain gets CCI node

The Competition Commission of India has approved the deal wherein Samara Capital-backed Witzig Advisory Services and Amazon will acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, which operates a supermarket store chain ‘more’.
As per the deal, 99.99 per cent of the equity share capital of Aditya Birla Retail would be acquired by Witzig and 49 per cent stake buys in Witzig by Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon NV Investment Holdings LLC.

Competition Commission of India

Competition Commission of India is a statutory body established under The Competition Act, 2002. The objectives of the competition commission of are:

• To prevent practices having an adverse effect on competition.
• To promote and sustain competition in markets.
• To protect the interests of consumers.
• To ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants in markets, in India.

The Competition Act has bestowed following responsibilities on the CCI:

• To prohibit anti-competitive agreements
• To prohibit abuse of dominant position
• To regulate combinations
• Competition advocacy.

The Competition Commission of India comprises of a Chairperson and six members appointed by the Central Government.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2019