NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee on finance has red-flagged anti-competitive practices of big tech companies and said that in digital businesses the winners take all within three-five years after the market starts to develop. The panel has, therefore, asked for a digital competition act for big tech firms.
The report says by the time policies can be formulated or anti-competitive behaviours are adjudicated, markets tip in one direction and a winner emerges. “Thus, the committee recommends that competitive behaviour needs to be evaluated ex-ante before markets end up monopolised instead of the ex-post evaluation being carried out at present,” reads the report.
The panel recommended India must identify the small number of leading players or market winners that can negatively influence competitive conduct in the digital ecosystem, as ‘Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries (SIDis) based on their revenues, market capitalization, and a number of active firms. It further says India should adopt definitions to ex-ante regulate the behaviour of systemically important digital intermediaries as has already been done by various legislations across the world.
“The committee recommend that stakeholders, working with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the central government, must collaborate to arrive at a reasonable definition of SIDIs,” recommends the report. The panel is in favour of platform neutrality as otherwise, it can lead to a negative effect on downstream markets, as their profits decline and an unfair advantage is provided to the leading player i.e. the platform itself.
The committee strongly recommends that a SIDI must not favour its own offers over the offers of its competitors. It advises that a SIDI should not force business users or end users to subscribe to, or register with, any further services as a condition for being able to use, access, sign up for or register with any of that platform’s core platform services.