Decoding India’s Digital Competition Act
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 2
- 2 min read
Prateek Sethi, Bharti Enterprises Limited
Introduction
The rapid evolution of the digital landscape has presented unprecedented opportunities and challenges. While digital platforms have revolutionized access to information, goods, and services, their increasing dominance has raised concerns about anti-competitive practices, abuse of market power, and the erosion of consumer choice. In response, India is poised to enact a Digital Competition Act, a landmark legislation aimed at fostering a level playing field and ensuring fair competition in the burgeoning digital economy. This article delves into the nuances of the proposed Act, examining its key provisions, potential impact, and the broader context of digital regulation globally.
As background, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, on 22 December 2022, submitted a report titled ‘Anti-Competitive Practices by Big Tech Companies’ (“Report”) which identified 10 anti-competitive practices in digital markets, such as anti-steering, self- preferencing, bundling/tying, unauthorized non-public data usage to one’s own advantage, etc. Upon assessment of these practices and the developments in certain foreign jurisdictions, the Report recommended the formation of the Committee on Digital Competition Law (“CDCL”) to study the possibility of introducing a Digital Competition Act for ex-ante regulation of digital markets (i.e., pre-determined rule-based enforcement). A nine member CDCL was established on 6 February 2023 to study the facets of digital markets and draft the Digital Competition Act. The proposed Digital Competition Act is expected to tackle these practices and their adverse impact. It seeks to establish a process of identifying ‘systemically important digital intermediaries’ (“SIDIs”).
The Digital Competition Act will mark a fundamental shift in Indian antitrust regulation from the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) ex-post facto review of conduct to now an ex- ante framework, in the digital markets. The Digital Competition Act is expected to address the ten different prevalent anti-competitive practices in digital markets as identified in the Report, and additional concerns that may be identified by the CDCL. Further, the Digital Competition Act will lay down the process for identifying SIDIs) and lay down the new ex-ante regulatory framework that SIDIs will have to comply with under the Digital Competition Act.
