Parliament Panel Calls For Digital Competition Act To Regulate Anti-Competitive Practices By Tech Giants

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance made a series of suggestions to control big tech corporations by enacting a digital competition law which will regulate anti-competitive behaviour on their respective platforms. It recommended that these companies be identified as Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries (SIDI) to ensure they don't dominate the market.

Towards Curbing Monopoly

The committee, headed by BJP MP and former Union minister Jayant Sinha, identified several unethical acts seen in the digital economy in its report titled 'Anti-competitive practices by Big Tech companies,' which was presented in the parliament on Thursday.

In its report, the panel said that the government should examine and establish a digital competition act to ensure a fair, transparent, and contestable digital environment. "This would be a benefit not only for our nation and its embryonic start-up industry but also for the whole world", it added, as reported by The Times of India.

Technology goliaths like Alphabet, which owns Google, Meta, and Amazon, are acknowledged globally as Big Tech firms that play an essential role as digital intermediates. The panel advised designating leading technology companies as Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries (SIDI) to prevent monopolies. Moreover, it cautioned that these companies "must not favour its own offers over the offers of its competitors" when serving as market intermediaries for supply and sales.

The panel recommended creating a specialised division for digital markets inside the competition watchdog and emphasised the necessity to monitor major tech corporations' competitive behaviour before markets monopolise rather than later.

Strained Relations With Tech Giants

Relations between the Indian government and several major digital companies have been strained, and New Delhi has been tightening regulations on companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, reported the Times of India. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), the nation's competition regulator, has already investigated Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Apple for suspected abuses of the application market. Earlier this year, CCI fined Google for allegedly abusing its monopoly.

Amazon and its rival Flipkart are accused of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour in India, including pushing favoured sellers online and providing precedence to particular sellers' listings.

Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been complaining for years about the burdensome compliance requirements associated with the several laws India has proposed for the technology industry. The complaints occasionally have troubled relationships between New Delhi and Washington.

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