The Post was lying vacant since October 2022

NEW-DELHI: The Competition Commission of India has got a woman chairperson for the first time. Ravneet Kaur, a 1988 batch officer of Punjab cadre, has been appointed to the post. The post was lying vacant since October 2022 after the completion of the tenure of former CCI chairman Ashok Gupta.

Notably, Ravneet Kaur is currently working as Special Chief Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Department of Cooperatives, Government of Punjab. Ravneet's appointment comes at a time when technical matters of big companies like Google, WhatsApp, Facebook and Amazon are pending with the CCI.

The CCI also has to deal with around 200 cases that have been transferred from the National Anti-Profiteering Authority to the Commission in December.

Due to the vacancy of the chairperson, the quorum could not be completed in the CCI, due to which the functioning was affected. This prevented steps being taken to deal with cases of anti-profiteering and abuse of dominance. With the quorum in place, the CCI would like to move swiftly on several pending complaints including those against big tech companies.

Significantly, Ravneet Kaur is a Post Graduate in Economics and Finance from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. She will be the fifth chairperson of CCI. She served as Joint Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry during his career spanning 29 years. Prior to this, she was the Chairperson and Managing Director (MD) of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

She has worked in the Department of Higher Education and Languages, Cabinet, Coordination and Parliamentary Affairs in the Government of Punjab. In the initial years of her career, she worked in the Department of Financial Services, Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Disinvestment.

It is worth mentioning here that she has also held various other positions like Vice Chairperson and MD in Punjab Communications Limited, CMD in Exim Bank, CMD in India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited, Addition MD in Markfed and many more. She has also been a consultant at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.