India’s Merger Control Regime Gets A Major Overhaul

The overall deal review timelines have been shortened to 150 calendar days, with a deemed automatic approval for transactions if the CCI is unable to form a prima facie view that the transaction may cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition in the first 30 calendar days (Phase 1). In practice however, there are significant time exclusions specified in the regulations, which may render this reduced timeframe a dead letter writes Shweta Shroff Chopra, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.