Competition Commission of India approved Microsoft-Nokia deal

Fair trade watchdog CCI approved Microsoft's proposed 7.2 billion USD acquisition of Nokia's mobile business, citing that the deal would'nt impact the competition in the Indian market.

This deal is known as one of the significant global M&A deals, Microsoft would acquire Finnish major Nokia's devices and services business.
The regulator has approved it in less than 2 months from the day the transaction was announced.

After approving the transaction, Competition Commission of India (CCI) said the combination would not have any adverse effect on competition in India market." On October 3, a notice seeking approval was submitted to the CCI, while the deal was finalized on September 2.

As per the deal, software giant Microsoft Corp and its subsidiary Microsoft International would acquire Nokia Corporation's Devices and Services (D&S) business and all the related arrangements.
Microsoft would substantially acquire Nokia's entire Devices and Services business, including mobile phones and smartphone devices business units.
In addition to that, the regulator said that it's the environment in this business which drives the demand between users, application developers and the designers/manufacturers.

CCI also stated that the vertical relationship between Nokia and Microsoft is "relatively insignificant" after taking into consideration the minimal share of Microsoft on top of the presence of major players like Apple and Google in the business of the operating software used in the tablets and smartphones in India.

Moreover, the regulator said Nokia has negligible share in the business of mobile and smartphones and there is presence of abundant other players like Apple, Samsung, Sony, Blackberry, LG, HTC, Lenovo, Karbonn, Lava, Micromax, Spice etc in this business in India.

Windows Phone operating system is used in Nokia Lumia series of smartphones.At the same time it is noticed that in India, even though Nokia is active in the Devices & Services business of mobile handsets, Microsoft is not that active in the same business, CCI said.
As per the order, as on the date of filing the notice, Nokia and Microsoft were also not so active in the business of manufacturing and sale of tablets in India.

CCI has always kept a tab on anti-competitive practices across various sectors at market place.

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