Competition Policy and Start-Ups in India

Technology has spurred innovation in the market. In India, the number of start-ups has rallied up significantly. They are playing a pivotal role to challenge the status-quo of market. To this end, the present article dives into analyzing the Government Policy and reforms which are conducive to foster innovation, growth and promote healthy competition in the digital market with a focus on start-ups. The Economic Survey Report of 2021-2022 and Union Budget of 2022-2023 presented by the Indian Government has been discussed here to project the market potential.  The article also discusses the position of law and the measures that can be taken to hone competition law policy for scalability of start-up business in India. The other focal point of this article is to take lessons from denigrating market practices that harm competition and then equalize them with public good initiatives of the government hinged on promoting competitive environment. The Unified Payment Interface and the notion of Open Network of Digital Commerce are few examples discussed here. The concurrent theme of this article is to advocate for market agnostic laws and policy that unlock the innovation quotient of India while harboring a safe legal environment within the start-ups.

By Dhanendra Kumar & Abir Roy[1]

I. INTRODUCTION

India is witnessing its start-up moment. As mentioned by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget Speech on February 1, 2022:

“Start-Ups have emerged as