ISLAMABAD: The Market Intelligence Unit (MIU) of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has achieved an impressive 92% efficiency in processing and referring leads related to anti-competitive practices during the 2024-25 fiscal year. This milestone highlights the MIU’s growing importance in supporting CCP’s efforts to ensure fair competition in Pakistan’s market.
Over the past year, the MIU identified more than 170 potential cases of anti-competitive behavior across various sectors. These leads were referred to relevant departments for further investigation, resulting in significant outcomes.
For example, the Cartels and Trade Abuses (C&TA) Department initiated five formal inquiries under Section 37(1) of the Competition Act, 2010. Meanwhile the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) started 28 inquiries based on MIU referrals and five leads related to mergers were flagged, resulting in detailed scrutiny and potential enforcement actions.
The success of the MIU is driven by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced digital tools for market monitoring. These tools include web scraping techniques to collect data from digital platforms and the use of Google Cloud Vision AI and Microsoft Azure AI to analyse market intelligence from visual and textual data. This approach has significantly improved the MIU’s ability to detect collusion, deceptive marketing, and abuse of dominance in the market.
The MIU has become a key pillar in CCP’s enforcement strategy, providing actionable intelligence that leads to investigations and informs policy decisions. These insights also assist in initiating sectoral studies, advocacy campaigns, and help the Commission anticipate market distortions and emerging competition threats.
