India's Competition Act (2002) was amended in 2007, modifying inter alia the Act's thresholds for merger review, and requiring mandatory rather than voluntary notification of mergers above the revised thresholds. This created considerable opposition in international business and legal circles....

Recent empirical research shows that industry and regulatory shocks play a key role in determining merger activity in developed countries. We use this framework to analyze merger activity in India, using a comprehensive database spanning a thirty-year period from 1973-74 to 2002-3. At the...