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Exemptions and ordinary-course acquisitions

Certain categories may be exempt or ordinarily not notifiable, but exemptions are fact-specific and may depend on control, purpose, percentage and business

Finin2min summary

Certain categories may be exempt or ordinarily not notifiable, but exemptions are fact-specific and may depend on control, purpose, percentage and business relationship.

Source review date: 4 July 2026. Read with the official text and the facts of the transaction.

Legal anchors

  • Competition (Criteria for Exemption of Combinations) Rules, 2024
  • CCI FAQs

How to analyse it

  1. Identify transaction category exactly.
  2. Test control and change-in-control.
  3. Assess ordinary-course purpose.
  4. Retain a written exemption memo.

Practical illustration

A financial investor acquires shares beyond a passive threshold and obtains strategic rights. “Investment only” wording cannot replace substantive analysis.

What can go wrong?

  • No written exemption analysis
  • Ignoring cumulative acquisitions
  • Assuming intra-group means always exempt

Evidence pack

  • Shareholding history
  • Rights matrix
  • Investment mandate
  • Exemption memo

Decision workflow

  1. Freeze the facts and effective date.
  2. Identify the controlling Act, rule, notification, circular and jurisdictional overlay.
  3. Prepare a calculation or exposure note.
  4. Collect the evidence pack before filing, payment, signing or response.
  5. Record reviewer conclusion and assumptions.

Quick Q&A

Is the result automatic?

No. Identify transaction category exactly.

What is the most important control?

Retain a written exemption memo.

What should be escalated?

No written exemption analysis, especially where money, deadlines, enforcement, personal liability or irreversible transaction steps are involved.

Official source trail

Secondary commentary may help interpretation, but it is not the source of law.

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