Member Article

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has conducted India’s first dawn raid. The CCI raided offices of UK-based construction equipment maker JCB, earlier today, in connection with a case of abuse of a dominant position. The Indian Competition Act (Act) accords power to the Director General (DG) to conduct such raids after obtaining a warrant from the chief metropolitan magistrate.

The raid comes in light of an on-going investigation being conducted by the DG, CCI against JCB India and its subsidiary JC Bamford Excavators for abusing their dominant position in the market for construction equipment, by restricting market access to competitors and restricting dealers by using unfair and anti-competitive trade practices and arrangements.

It seems that JCB was not being co-operative in the DG’s investigation, and thus the raid was conducted. The DG intends to thoroughly check the documents and data obtained during the raid to assist with their investigation. 

About Kochhar & Co.’s Dawn Raid Team

Kochhar & Co. offers a 24-hour legal service across India to clients facing dawn raids and investigations from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). No matter where, no matter when, Kochhar & Co. provides an immediate and structured dawn raid response saving their clients time and money. In particular, we:

• draw on our ample resources across India to manage the dawn raid process and mitigate the administrative burden for clients, freeing their time to focus on strategic considerations;
• react in an immediate and coordinated manner to the first contact with any lawyer in our network, and liaise with our established network of external law firms in jurisdictions where we do not have an office;
• arrange for investigating officials to be shadowed very closely to ensure full respect of our clients' rights of defence, such as the non-disclosure of documents covered by legal professional privilege, and to guide and reassure employees who are targeted for investigation;
• work around the clock to gather evidence and documents, interview employees and prepare detailed risk assessments, so that our clients have the best possible information advantage when deciding whether to apply for immunity or leniency, and the best possible chance of being "first in" to the enforcement agency with any such application. Where potentially infringing conduct affects multiple jurisdictions, we ensure that the information gathering process is both coordinated and efficient;
• advise on the leniency, immunity and settlement requirements that apply in potentially relevant jurisdictions and how they interact with one another; and
• help clients with the development of their initial communication strategies to minimise reputational harm with the business press, shareholders, customers and any commercial partners.

We also work with clients to ensure that they are fully prepared for a dawn raid, by:

• providing comprehensive and tailored dawn raid guidelines to ensure that staff at all levels of their organisation understand their respective roles, rights and obligations during a dawn raid;
• conducting "mock" dawn raids on notice at clients' premises; and
• offering bespoke compliance training and education.

The antitrust / competition advisory practice of Kochhar & Co. is headed by Piyush Gupta. Piyush has close to a decade of trans-national experience in the competition law regimes across India and Singapore. Piyush is well-versed with the complexities of this relatively new entrant in the Indian legal arena and has drafted the competition law compliance manuals and guidelines for companies across various industries. Piyush has also conducted competition law compliance audits for various corporates, in addition to providing training and holding workshops on identification of issues pertaining to competition laws for the purposes of various companies’ in-house legal counsels, as well as for various operational personnel, such that competition law issues can be highlighted and dealt with on an immediate basis. In this regard, you may contact Piyush Gupta at +91.124.454.5222 or email him at [email protected].