Sarvada Legal possesses rich experience in handling a wide range of contentious as well as non-contentious competition law matters matters across diverse sectors, including digital and platform markets, e-commerce, healthcare, automobiles, cement, real estate, infrastructure, aviation, oil & gas, entertainment, FMCG, and pharmaceutical among others.

At Sarvada Legal, competition law is not just a practice- it is a pursuit of impactful advocacy and strategic foresight. With a reputation for navigating complex challenges, the team offers holistic advisory on matters spanning merger control, enforcement (cartel investigations and abuse of dominance), and competition law compliances.

The Competition Law practice at Sarvada Legal is led by seasoned practitioners recognized by Who’s Who Legal, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, and Asia Law for their expertise in Competition Law. The team has been playing a pivotal role in shaping competition and antitrust jurisprudence in India by representing clients in landmark cases across sectors, and has been regularly appearing before judicial as well as quasi-judicial forums, including the Supreme Court of India, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), various High Courts, and the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

We believe the team’s core strength lies in the extensive litigation capabilities wherein it draws strength from, not only its robust antitrust enforcement practice, but also rich domain expertise across other branches of litigation, especially in technology law. Combining the same, the team commands the ability to curate out of the box arguments which go on to become precedents in the antitrust space.

Certain forward-thinking arguments have contributed to key developments such as laying down standards for obtaining interim injunction in digital markets, scope of extra territorial application of the CCI, use of market power doctrine to analyze vertical agreements of various platform players, , interface between data protection and competition law, etc. The firm’s impact was recognized with the GCR Award 2023 for Behavioral Matter of the Year (Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa).

Sarvada Legal also assists clients in merger filings. We work closely with companies to (i) understand their business model; (ii) rationale of the transactions. This, coupled with industry expertise, helps us in effectively positioning our regulatory filings. This also helps us to craft innovative commitment packages to protect the overall strategic interest of our clients.

We also design, implement, and maintain antitrust compliance programs for companies across sectors as a litigation proofing exercise. This is backed by our insights and experience in dealing with the Courts and Tribunals across India on antitrust related issues.

Sarvada Legal is also at the forefront of policy advocacy, actively contributing to the evolution of competition law and regulation in India. Sarvada Legal submitted recommendations to the Parliamentary Panel during deliberations on the Digital Competition Law, and to the CCI on the Commitment and Settlement Regulations, with few of our suggestions being adopted into law- marking a significant impact on competition policy reform. Sarvada Legal’s Competition Law team comprises ten dedicated lawyers, including two Partners, combining deep legal expertise with a multidisciplinary approach to deliver pioneering solutions and set industry benchmarks.

Representative list of clients:

• ICICI Bank
• Match Group
• Max Super Specialty Hospital
• Infoedge India Ltd.
• Piramal Group
• True North Co.
• Marathon Realty Group
• Macleods Pharmaceuticals
• Bunch Microtechnologies Pvt. Ltd. (Classplus)
• J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
• Alliance of Digital India Foundation
• Coalition for App Fairness
• All India Gaming Federation
• Testbook Edu Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
• Sorting Hat Technologies Private Limited (Unacademy)
• Matrimony.com
• People Interactive Private Limited
• Groww, Invest Tech Private Limited
• Jindal Steel and Power
• CE Info Systems Ltd. (MapMyIndia)
• Internet Freedom Foundation

Enforcement

• Assisting and representing clients before the Director General, Competition Commission of India, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, High Courts and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in cases pertaining horizontal agreements, vertical agreements, joint ventures, abuse of dominance cases, etc.
• Representing clients in filing leniency applications with the CCI as well as representing companies that are party to leniency proceedings in investigations before the DG and inquiries before the CCI.

Merger Control

• Structuring, advisory, filing merger notifications and obtaining merger approval from the CCI.
• Structuring and negotiating commitments between clients and the CCI.
• Assisting parties in navigating gun-jumping and penalty proceedings before the CCI.

Compliance

• Conducting competition law audits and reviewing agreements and business practices of companies to ensure that they are in compliance with competition law.
• Training and preparing clients for dawn-raids and designing, implementing and maintaining competition compliance programs.