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

Identify transaction category exactly.
Test control and change-in-control.
Assess ordinary-course purpose.
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

Freeze the facts and effective date.
Identify the controlling Act, rule, notification, circular and jurisdictional overlay.
Prepare a calculation or exposure note.
Collect the evidence pack before filing, payment, signing or response.
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.