New Delhi: Ravneet Kaur, a 1988-batch Punjab-cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a period of five years. Kaur is the first woman to head the country’s main national competition regulator, which has been functioning without a full-time chairman since October last year.
His appointment comes at a time when CCI is in the process of conducting inquiries against tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook for alleged anti-competitive practices.
The official government order dated May 15, 2023, states that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) selected Kaur as the CCI chairperson for a term of five years from the date of assumption of charge or till she attains the age of 65 years or until further orders. Is. ,
Kaur (60) is the second woman to hold the role of ‘economic regulator’ after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last year.
With over two decades of experience in government, Kaur has held key positions including Chairperson of India Tourism Development Corporation (2017-2019), Joint Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (2015-2017).
Prior to being appointed CCI Chairperson, Kaur was serving as Special Chief Secretary (Apex Scale) in Agriculture and Cooperation Departments, Government of Punjab, Chandigarh.
Hailing from Chandigarh, Kaur’s first stint was as a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Rajpura, Punjab in 1990.
She holds a master’s degree in economics and public economic management from Panjab University, and is the recipient of the 1991 Census Silver Medal, which was awarded to her for her government service. In 2019, she was also honored by the Institute of South Asian Women (ISAW) with its Women Achievers Award.
According to her executive record sheet, Kaur has undergone training in international negotiations at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and in infrastructure development and financing at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
The CCI was without a full-time chairman since Ashok Kumar Gupta left office in October 2022. CCI member Sangeeta Verma had been serving as the acting chairperson since then.
(Editing by Amritansh Arora)
Read also: How the Google-linked CCI anti-trust war played a role in India’s Maps app wars