Platform Markets: The Antitrust Challenge in India

Universality of antitrust abuse is discernable in decisions of Competition Commission of India “abuse of dominance” of Google and global giants of platform markets. The decisions leave me with a sense of unease. Diversity of an economy and more important of consumers and consumption patterns are lost if reliance is placed on decisions of European Commission or of FTC/ DOJ. This note explores if behavioral economics of Indian consumers and consumer centric innovations visible in the splurge in apps and smart phones the digital mobile system in India. A different perspective of competition in digital markets emerge.

By Dr. Geeta Gouri¹

The fundamental question for any competition authority in its assessment of a market is: “What to regulate”? To address this question, the law identifies possible abuses in which an enterprise or firm could potentially engage. Any follow-up action is then defined by how and when to regulate. The economics of defining and measuring the market power of dominant enterprises are well-honed and tested in mature competition regimes such as the U.S. and Europe. Competition agencies in new market regimes lean heavily on the structure of these laws and the decisions of these two jurisdictions. In India, the bias tends to be more European. Case references and arguments used by lawyers before the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) typically refer to decisions of the EU Commission with occasional reference to the U.S. FTC/DOJ. In