The Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India by way of a notification in the Official Gazette on 29 June 2017 exempted every person or enterprise that is a party to a combination under section 5 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) from providing a mandatory notice to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) within 30 (thirty) days of either approval of the proposal relating to merger or amalgamation set out in section 5 (c) of the Act by the board of directors of the merging or amalgamating enterprise, or execution of any agreement or document for acquisition referred to in section 5 (a) of the Act or of acquiring control referred to in section 5 (b) of the same for a period of 5 years commencing from 29 June 2017 onwards (Exemption Notification).
The Exemption Notification, however, is subject to the following conditions, whichever is earlier:
1. no combination may come into effect until 210 (two hundred and ten) days from the date of notice to the CCI apprising it of the combination under section 6 (2A) of the Act; or
2. by the passing of an order by the CCI under section 31, inter-alia, either approving, rejecting or modifying the proposed combination, or of accepting the modification as proposed by the parties.
The full text of the Exemption Notification may be accessed at the following link: