Competition panel mulls ways to pare M&A delays

“We are now exploring the possibility of introducing pre-merger consultations with companies to reduce the time taken for according mandatory approvals to mergers and acquisitions,” CCI Chairman Dhanendra Kumar said at the inaugural session of Sixth Indo-US Economic summit being held here on Tuesday.

At present, CCI can take up to 210 days to clear merger and acquisition deals. “We are working on expediting the procedure for pre-merger consultations under Sections 5 & 6 of Competition Act. We feel it is ideal to clear merger and acquisition deals within 40 days,” Kumar said.

Industry experts feel that the provision for pre-merger consultations will help in cutting down the inordinate delays taking place in the mergers and acquisitions.

Though the government has notified various sections of Competition Act, it is yet to operationalise Sections 5 & 6 that deal with mergers and acquisitions, because of objections raised by the industry.