The Competitive Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has been directed by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance to describe its work in detail. The meeting of the committee is going to take place in the Parliament House on 26th November, 2014. The following areas are expected to be addressed in the meeting.
Cartel Concerns:
The CCP has been asked to detail how they evaluate the risks of of a cartel forming in any of the major industries in Pakistan. How current unofficial cartels, like in the cement industry, are being dealt with is going to be the subject of discussion. The situation in the banking situation is also very alarming. 5 banks hold 80% of the assets in the country and are effectively controlling the industry. In such an environment, smaller banks and financial institutions are highly disadvantaged. The CCP has been asked to comment on this situation.
Deceptive Marketing Practices:
The CCP has been asked to give a detailed briefing of how they control deceptive marketing practices in bank loans, property, telecom and other sectors. The commission has also been asked to elaborate on how effective their work can be to curb such practices.
Telecom Sector:
For the telecom sector, the CCP has been asked to provide a detailed briefing on the following points.
– Roles and responsibilities of the CCP
– Current process and operational requirements for evaluating requests
– Issuance of NOCs, in the case of mergers and acquisitions
– Consumer rights and under what corporate governance mechanisms are they protected
– Consumer interest protection in HR (irregular hiring, strange allocation of benefits, details of audit procedures)
The CCP also been asked to describe how it works with the SECP and Institute of Corporate Governance. This is going to be an important factor in the success of the commission in achieving its objectives for pre and post audits and issuance of NOCs. Lastly, the CCP has been asked to describe measures through which its effectiveness during a calendar year can be judged.
All points are important and needs detailed discussions specially on acquisitions and mergers.
Cartel Forming is also a major area that needs to be consider deeply. There are many organisation or industries that are joining hands on pricing, production etc