Legislation on digital competition to ensure the government doesn’t over-regulate

The idea is whether another layer of legislation will put undue burden on businesses when there are several legislative and regulatory changes under the Digital India Bill, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, Indian Telecommunication Bill and various rules on e-commerce. and online gaming, apart from the Competition Amendment Bill which is pending before Parliament.

The move comes in the context of a suggestion made last month by Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc and Google, to Indian policymakers that technology that touches the lives of people around the world should be held responsible, highlighting the need for legal certainty. Regulation is needed. framework.

“One view is that too much regulation may come in the way of development of an area and add to litigation. The other requirement is to ensure a level-playing field. An approach will be taken,” said the first person cited above. A balance has to be struck between the needs of protecting consumers and promoting innovation and growth, the person said.

India’s core digital economy grew from 5.4% of GVA in 2014 to 8.5% in 2019, according to a report published last month by the Reserve Bank of India, authored by members of its Department of Economic and Policy Research, a “digitally dependent” economy. with 2019 hovering at 22%. The report said that India’s digital economy grew 2.4 times faster than the economy during this period, with strong forward linkages to non-digital sectors.

At the time of publication, there was no formal comment on the subject from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs or the Ministry of Electronics and IT in response to emailed queries on Tuesday.

Given that the proposed digital competition law is a new concept and there is not enough experience in the EU, which introduced the Digital Markets Act last year, the government may hold a wider consultation.

in an interview published in Peppermint On 2 January, Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman Jayant Sinha said that by having a ‘pre-emptive’ or forward-looking regulatory framework, apart from existing competition laws, which are in the process of being revised, India has a world-leading competition law. There will be an outline. Sinha also said that only a handful of systemically important digital intermediaries who can influence the market and act as digital market gate keepers will be covered under this law. The Competition Amendment Bill also seeks to bring in high-value mergers and acquisitions in the digital economy that escape the traditional merger rules under the regulatory purview of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).