In light of the various malpractices that have recently emerged in the banking and insurance segments, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has undertaken a study of the functioning of the country’s expanding financial sector.

According to a report in The Hindu Business Line, the competition watchdog will look at the operations of the sector and focus on the possibilities of anti-competitive practices that may arise.

"(The study will look at) how the market functions and how could be the possible anti-competitive practices in those areas like banking, insurance so on and so forth. That is broadly the mandate of the study. These are underway at the moment," Ashok Chawla, chairman, CCI said.

Chawla has however, clarified that banks keeping similar interests was not an anti-competitive issue in the present scenario and hence they need not be probed.

The government has been working on various reforms within the financial sector reforms so as to boost economic growth and this move by the CCI is another step in this direction.