INTRODUCTION
The Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, was enacted to ensure that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of economic power in the hands of few people. MRTP Act came into existence on 1 June, 1970. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices(MRTP) Act, 1969, aims at preventing concentration of economic power in the hands of a few business houses. The Act provides for control of the monopolies, probation of monopolistic, restrictive and unfair trade practice and protection of consumer interests.
The act defines the Monopolistic Trade Practice as “Such practice indicates misuse of one’s power to abuse the market in terms of production and sales of goods and services.The act defines Restrictive Trade Practice as “The traders, in order to maximize their profits and to gain power in the market. Thus, it was one of the most significant economic measures adopted by the Government of India to strengthen the economy of our country.
OBJECTIVE OF MRTP ACT
MRTP Act plays a very important role in giving a definite shape to Indian economy and it has several objectives like :
1.To ensure that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few rich.
2. To provide for the control of monopolies,
3. To prohibit monopolistic and restrictive trade practices.
SCOPE OF THE MRTP ACT , 1969
Scope of the MRTP Act, 1969
To first understand the salient features that govern the MRTP Act, 1969, it is important to truly understand the scope of its applicability.
Following are the concepts tackled by the Act:
It followed a Command and Control Approach The Act made it compulsory for enterprises having assets more than INR 20 crores to take approval from the Central Government before undergoing any kind of corporate restructuring or a proposed takeover. A criterion was fixed to identify the dominant undertaking. Enterprises with assets of more than INR 1 crore were automatically deemed to be dominant.
- Trade Practices which are monopolistic Monopolistic Trade Practices are covered under Chapter IV of the MRTP Act, 1969. These are the activities that are undertaken by Big Corporate Houses by exploiting their position in the market. This meant that activities that hamper or eliminate competition of healthy nature in the economic market were prohibited as these trade practices were anti-consumer.
- Restrictive Trade Practices Restrictive Trade Practices are activities that stop the flow of capital or profits back into the market. Some businesses often tend to control the supply of goods or products in the market by either restricting production or taking control of the delivery. The Act disallows and ensures firms do not indulge in these practices.
- Unfair Trade Practices Unfair Trade Practices are acts of false & misleading nature related to goods and services by the firms. Section 36-A of the MRTP Act, 1969 explicitly prohibits firms from indulging in Unfair Trade Practices (UTPs). The provision against Unfair Trade Practices was inserted by the 1984 Amendment to the MRTP Act.
SCOPE OF MRTP ACT
The scope of MRTP Act is very wide. As has been rightly said, positive effects of any law can only be realized when it is effectively enforced. A weak enforcement of law would be no different than not having the law itself. The same applies for the newly enacted Competition law whose jurisprudence is currently at its very nascent stage. With the passage of time, MRTP Act became obsolete and it was replaced by Competition Commission of India which is also improving its efficiency as per the need of the hour. Scope and recommendations of MRTP Act are :
- CCI should try to focus more on the competition law violations that affect the common majority of people. Most of the cases that this authority has decided till now involve niche markets that are mostly controlled by the richest 10% of the country.
2. It should also strongly deal with anti-competitive activities of the firms located abroad and the ill effects it has on the Indian market.
CONCLUSION
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices(MRTP) Act, 1969, aims at preventing concentration of economic power in the hands of a few business houses. The Act provides for control of monopolies, probation of monopolistic, restrictive and unfair trade practice and protection of consumer interests. Premises on which the MRTP Act rests are unrestrained interaction of competitive forces, maximum material progress through rational allocation of economic resources, availability of goods and services of quality at reasonable prices and finally a just and fair deal to the consumers. Hence, it was beneficial for short period of time but not in long run
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