Asia: Antitrust/Competition Law

The Delhi High Court, by its judgment dated 8 September 2026, dismissed the appeal filed by UltraTech Cement Limited (UltraTech) challenging the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) impleading the Builders’ Association of India (BAI) to participate in proceedings initiated by the CCI against cement manufacturers under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act).

IRDAI’s Consultation Paper on Recalibrating Economics of Insurance Distribution aims to strengthen competition in insurance distribution. This article argues that some of its proposals amount to differential treatment of distributors performing the same activity. Such treatment may weaken competition on merits, reduce customer choice and run against IRDAI’s own principle of ‘same activity, same regulation’.

As the world evolves, every economy is now making progress towards becoming a technology-driven economy and there is an ongoing debate to bring specific changes to the competition law for a technology-driven economy. The prevailing view, however, is that the existing Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) already reaches several technology-based claims, and major jurisdictions have stretched their competition statutes to cover platform conduct rather than wait for bespoke digital-market legislation.