India needs a dynamic competition commission that “nuances its positions” in terms of regulations and doesn’t become a blunt instrument wielder for controlling the economy, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The CCI should continue to look at India as an economy in transition and not a complete free market one, and factor in the special socioeconomic needs of the country in framing regulations, Sitharaman said in her inaugural address at the CCI conference.
“Nuance is what we want from the CCI and there are examples in the recent past where the CCI has already stood up to our expectations,” she said. Stressing the need to somewhat “temper down” the country’s growth aspirations, Sitharaman said it would not be right to ask “why can’t we be like Singapore and open up” without creating the necessary regulatory mechanisms.
“Our transition from a centrally-commanded economy to a free market one has been protracted. Could we have been changing at a pace faster? Well, that’s not the case. So, at the same time, can we be an open economy like Singapore straight away? No, that is also impossible, given that our social and economic conditions are different,” she said.
She also did not agree to CEA Arvind Subramanian’s view that regulatory bodies like CCI are a “work in progress”. “I don’t think CCI is a work in progress. It has to continue to be more flexible, more dynamic, while factoring in the peculiar socioeconomic needs of India,” she said. She also felt that although it was quite tempting, it may not be right to compare the progress made by India with China, or even Singapore.