The CCI (Settlement) Regulations, 2024

Section 48A permits an enterprise facing an inquiry into a vertical agreement or an abuse of dominance to apply for settlement after the Director General has reported and before a final order. The Settlement Regulations, which came into force on 6 March 2024, supply everything the section leaves out: when the application must be made, what it must contain, how stakeholders are consulted, how the settlement amount is computed, what discount is available, and how the settlement is implemented and monitored. The first order under them was passed in the Android television matter in April 2025.

1. Who May Apply, and When

1. The applicant must be an enterprise against which an inquiry has been initiated under Section 26(1) for contravention of Section 3(4) or Section 4. Cartels under Section 3(3) are excluded by the section itself.
2. The window opens on receipt of the Director General's report and closes when the Commission passes a final order under Section 27 or Section 28. The regulations fix the period within which the application must be filed after the report is received, and an application made outside it is not entertained.
3. Withdrawal. The regulations provide for withdrawal of the application, and for the consequences of withdrawal, the inquiry then proceeding in the ordinary way.

2. What the Application Must Contain

• The details of the contraventions found in the report and the applicant's response to them.
• The settlement proposal, setting out the terms on which the applicant is willing to settle, including any changes it will make to its conduct, agreements or terms of business.
• The proposed settlement amount and the basis on which it has been computed.
• The manner in which the settlement will be implemented and monitored, including reporting to the Commission.
• The prescribed fee, and a verification.

3. Procedure before the Commission

1. Preliminary consideration. The Commission considers whether the application is maintainable and whether the proposal merits examination, having regard to the nature, gravity and impact of the contraventions.
2. Consultation. The Commission may invite objections and suggestions from the parties to the proceeding and from other stakeholders, and does so in significant matters; in the Android television matter a large number of stakeholders were consulted before the terms were settled.
3. Revision of the proposal. The Commission may require the applicant to revise the proposal, and the applicant may amend it within the period allowed. This is where the substance of the remedy is negotiated.
4. Decision. The Commission either accepts the proposal and passes an order under Section 48A(3) recording the settlement, the amount and the terms, or rejects it, in which case the inquiry resumes from the stage it had reached.

4. The Settlement Amount and the Discount

The settlement amount is computed by reference to what the penalty would have been had the matter proceeded to a final order, taking account of the nature, gravity and impact of the contraventions, and a discount is then applied to reflect the fact of settlement. The regulations cap the discount, and the actual figure depends on the stage at which the application was made and on the extent to which the proposed terms address the conduct. In the Android television matter the Commission applied a discount of fifteen per cent, arriving at a final settlement amount of twenty crore twenty-four lakh rupees.

5. Implementation, Monitoring and Revocation

The order specifies how the settlement is to be implemented, the period for which the terms are to be maintained, and the reporting the applicant must make. Under the General Regulations, 2024 the Commission may appoint an independent agency to monitor implementation, which may be an accounting firm, a management consultancy or a firm of professionals, independent of the parties. Section 48C permits revocation where the applicant fails to comply with the settlement, where a disclosure made in the application was untrue in a material particular, or where there has been a material change in the facts on which the order was based; on revocation the inquiry is restored and proceeds as if no application had been made.

6. Related Topics and Provisions