Exclusionary Conduct Of Competition Law In India And The Jurisprudence Behind It

Anti-trust laws are essentially the Magna Carta of free enterprise. However, dwelling into the jurisprudential context of why and how should competition laws even exist in an economy, we find that while these laws serve to regulate and act as watchdog on big enterprises from influencing the novice enterprises with comparatively less control to exist together in the market, the true aim of these law is to ensure consumer-protection and enhancement of consumer welfare. Gauging the significance of anti-trust laws from the economics point of view, a compelling and fairly unambiguous framework advanced by the EU for competition enforcement can be considered as a 'more economic approach' given that the EU model where members abiding by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union keeping the competition of EU's market in vigilance not only appeals to a more conservative idea of imposition of lesser regulation and non-governmental interference in markets, it is also a balance between opting for or out of the model to suit the requirement of the member state. This shall not only ensure fair market but also lead to the realization of consumer welfare serving the fundamental purpose of competition law. On comparison of the dominant theoretical approach to the prohibition of exclusionary conduct in competition law as against the normal competitive conduct based on their economic outcomes, we find that in competition law jurisprudence, consumer and welfare of consumer form the crux of policy-making and thus, exclusionary conduct aimed at protecting consumer rights while taking into consideration availability of best services to consumers as propagated by Edward and Brooke, anti-trust laws do nothing but help aid the consumers in securing their rights by driving a balance between seller’s dominant position in the market and consumer’s right to Free Choice.