Fair trade regulator CCI will shortly commence a study on private equity (PE) investments in the country to look at various aspects, including whether PE investors’ rights in invested companies could lead to decisions that can impact competition.

Ashok Kumar Gupta, chairman of the the Competition Commission of India (CCI), on Friday said that in the current year, PE investments have surpassed strategic investments in the country due to the pandemic situation.

According to Gupta, a new trend has emerged where FDI and other foreign investments have been overtaken by PE investments.

The regulator has been examining sub-10 per cent investments in target enterprises by PE investors where they have a board seat. As many of these investments are in multiple firms of the same industry, the issue of common ownership by minority shareholders across firms and its impact on competition needs to be understood, Gupta said.