Mergers of banking companies are proposed to be kept out of the ambit of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The Government is likely to stick to its initial proposal in the Banking Laws (amendment) Bill 2011 of exempting mergers of banking companies from the applicability of Competition Act. No changes to this initial proposal will be made when Finance Minister P Chidambaram moves amendments to the Banking Laws (amendment) Bill on Thursday, official sources said.

Simply put, all mergers in the banking industry will come only under the ambit of RBI. One need not wait for any approval from the Competition Commission in the case of bank mergers if the Bill in the current form is enacted into law.

Finance Ministry was earlier toying with the idea of dropping this initial proposal so as to bring certain mergers of banking companies within the CCI ambit.