Biography: Competition

Harman Singh Sandhu is a senior associate in Amarchand Mangaldas' competition law practice. Harman has considerable experience in advising Indian and foreign companies in relation to a whole range of competition issues (both on the advisory side and in proceedings before the Competition Commission of India) in a variety of sectors including telecoms, railways, steel, aviation, banking, natural resources (oil, coal, iron ore etc), construction, cement, tyres, etc.

Amongst his significant achievements, Harman was part of the team that successfully defended HDFC Limited against an allegation that pre-payment charges imposed by them, together with other home loan providers, were anti-competitive – the first ever case decided by the Competition Commission of India following a detailed investigation. Harman's involvement in more recent cases include successfully defending Coal India Limited on an abuse of dominance allegation and acting for Jindal Steel and Power Limited against public sector enterprises in relation to denial of market access issues. On the merger control side, among others, Harman advised and secured an unconditional merger control clearance for Nippon Steel Corporation in relation to its proposed merger with Sumitomo Metal Industries.

Harman also regularly conducts competition compliance programs for various clients and has also contributed to various international publications on Indian competition law issues.

Before joining Amarchand Mangaldas, Harman worked with the Office of Communications (UK) and the European Commission's DG Competition – cartels division, focusing on competition law issues and he also holds an LLM in competition law from King's College London under the supervision of Professor Richard Whish.