Malik was speaking at the ICRIER Prosus Centre for Internet and Digital Economy’s annual conference here on Friday.
“(The metrics that are considered include) innovation – whose innovation is it? Is it only the large platforms? Choice – the terms of trade for business users who are dependent on these platforms because there have been cases where the trading partners have been ousted because of the governance rules imposed by Big Tech companies on the same partners who have helped them reap the benefits,” she said.
“The inclusiveness is now shifting from an antitrust perspective to economy-wide ramifications, businesses in India – be it hotels, restaurants, media, app developers and other startups – because of the dependence on digital platforms,” she added.
In October last year, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on US-based internet giant Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets with its Android mobile operating system (OS) and prescribed a set of about a dozen measures that the company had to comply with. The company later appealed against the order but has not been granted relief in the matter.
The same month, online travel platforms MakeMyTrip-Goibibo (MMT-Go), and hospitality services provider Oyo were slapped with penalties totalling more than Rs 392 crore by CCI for “unfair business practices”.
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The allegations were that MMT-Go “imposed a price parity in their agreements with hotel partners.”Under these deals, hotels are not allowed to “sell their rooms on any other platform or on its own online portal at a price below the price at which it is being offered on the two entities’ platforms.”
It was also found that MakeMyTrip accorded preferential treatment to Oyo on its platform, which caused denial of market access to other companies.
“Antitrust regulation is now increasingly moving to problems associated between business users and these platforms. Words such as self-referencing, leveraging, data collection practices, and deep discounting are increasingly getting into the lexicon of antitrust law,” Malik said.
Over the last few years, the competition commission has increased focus on bringing digital companies under its coverage, both from a mergers and acquisition point of view and from a dominant position perspective.
Last year, former CCI Chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta said the regulator was in the process of setting up a dedicated Digital Markets and Data Unit (DMDU).
“In view of the number of cases and complexity in the digital sector and the increasing need for data and technology skills, CCI is in the process of setting up a dedicated Digital Markets and Data Unit. In addition to our staff from the law, economics and finance streams, we plan to staff the unit with new professional profiles such as data scientists, algorithm experts etc,” he had said.
