Examining individual sanctions for cartels under Indian antitrust law: exploring possibilities within corporate law for effective deterrence

A review of cartel cases decided by the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) between 2009 and 2024 reveals that in most cases directors or key managerial personnel have been closely involved in effecting cartel arrangements. While the CCI has used relevant statutory provisions to indict these individuals, the sanctioning mechanism has been largely inadequate for two reasons. First, the penalty imposed by the CCI has been grossly inadequate. Second, the CCI has been inconsistent in applying sections 48(1) and 48(2) of the Competition Act, 2002 in fixing accountability on company executives found to have indulged in cartelisation. Due to this inadequacy and inconsistency, the CCI has failed to create sufficient deterrence for individuals. In this article, we explore corporate law to address the issue of under-deterrence with specific reference to directors’ duties and disqualification provisions under the Companies Act, 2013.