Competition Law and Consumer Protection: A Phenomena Wrongly Understood

Consumer protection is the main objective of competition law all around the world including Indian competition law. However, consumer is not only as, commonly, we perceive. We perceive it as consumer and producer or manufacturer two separate classes. In real Producer and manufacturer are the consumers in most of the cases.

The concept of consumer is about the role a person is playing in the particular situation or business transaction. As the purchase for commercial purpose is also included in the definition of consumer which was not in the definition of consumer under Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1969.

The bigger issue in this is the objective of competition law we determine. The first impression comes that it is anti-corporates and pro-poor or aam admi. But competition law in real gives equal opportunity to MNCs against local companies and vice-versa provided  domestic companies are able to compete.