The chamber has said that the government should ensure that the competitiveness of the Indian industry was not lost in the process of offering its own market to MNCs.

In a background note on competition policy, the PHDCCI said that the objective of competition policy should be to achieve efficient allocation of resources, technical progress, consumer welfare and regulation of concentration of economic power.

It said that exessive integration of firms, if not checked, might result in public outcry. Going back to the regime of controls and regulations or reintroducing the regulatory framework which was in place 4 years ago for preventing anti-competitive situations will be detrimental to the economic development process, the PHDCCI note said.

It stressed that the purpose of competition law must be to maintain and encourage competition in India in order to promote efficiency and adaptability of Indian economy and at the same time expand opportunities for Indian participants in the world market.

The firms should be encouraged to be operationally more efficient and technologically innovative and provide consumers with competitive prices and product choices, the chamber said.

The competition law, though contributing to an attractive environment for foreign investment, must provide safeguards against possible abuses by foreign investors of the financial and market power that they have, the chamber added.

While recognizing the role of foreign competition in India, it must be ensured that every Indian enterprise whether small or medium or large has an equitable opportunity to participate in the economic activities. In reality even many of the large Indian enterprises may be small according to international standards, according to the chamber.

Liberalization of trade, both domestic and international, and competition policy are complementary to each other. It is important to ensure that various aspects of trade policy fall within the limits outlined by the competition policy, the PHDCCI said.