Lok Sabha Question No. 187 (STARRED), answered on 2024-12-09
Subject: Status of Draft Digital Competition Bill
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Adv Dean Kuriakose

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 187

ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2024/ Agrahayana 18, 1946 (Saka)

Status of Draft Digital Competition Bill

## QUESTION

187.   Adv Dean Kuriakose:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the current status of the Draft Digital Competition Bill;

(b) whether  the  Government  has  held  any  consultations  under  the  PreLegislative Consultation Policy (PLCP) for the draft digital competition bill;

(c) If  so,  the  details  of  stakeholders  who  were  consulted  and  if  not,  the reasons therefor; and

(d) Whether  the  Government  plans  to  release  the  draft  Bill  for  future consultations and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE                  (SHRIMATI NIRMALA SITHARAMAN) AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS

(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  PARTS  (a)  to  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO. 187 FOR 09.12.2024 REGARDING STATUS OF DRAFT DIGITAL COMPETITION BILL

- (a) to  (d)  :  Consultations  on  the  Draft  Digital  Competition  Bill  (DCB)  were conducted in  consonance  with  the  Pre-  Legislative  Consultation  Policy (PLCP) of  the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) as under: -
- During  March  2023,  closed-door  consultations  were  held  with entities  and  stakeholders  likely  to  be  impacted  by  the  law  during  the formulation of the Draft DCB including industry associations, domestic and foreign digital enterprises and think-tanks etc. List of stakeholders is placed at Annexure-I.
- Stakeholder consultations were done from March 12- May 15, 2024 wherein the Report of the Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) along with Draft DCB was placed on MCA website under the e-Consultation mode.  More  than  100  stakeholders  submitted  responses,  ranging  from legal professionals, industry associations, civil society organisations, and domestic & foreign digital enterprises providing digital services in India. List of stakeholders is placed at Annexure-II.
- Stakeholder  discussions  were  also  organised  by  Ministry  of Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (Meity)  between  18.06.2024  to 20.06.2024.

Suggestions/inputs/comments received from stakeholders are being examined.

*****

1. Amazon
2. Apple India Private Ltd.
3. Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd. & Swiggy
4. Centre for the Digital future
5. Flipkart
6. Google
7. India Cellular and Electronics Association
8. Internet and Mobile Association of India
9. Meta (Facebook)
10. Oyo
11. Uber
12. USIBC
13. Zomato
14. All India Gaming Federation
15. Alliance of Digital India Foundation
16. Artha Global
17. Asia Travel Technology Industry Association
18. AZB & Partners
19. Confederation of All India Traders
20. Digital News Publishers Association
21. Esya Centre
22. Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India
23. Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
24. MakeMyTrip
25. Newspaper Association of India
26. National Restaurant Association of India
27. NASSCOM
28. Paytm
29. Twitter.

## Annexure-I

## Annexure-II

|   S. NO. | NAME OF STAKEHOLDER                                            |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Niti Aayog                                                     |
|        2 | FIRST India                                                    |
|        3 | CCAOI                                                          |
|        4 | Swiggy                                                         |
|        5 | American Bar Association                                       |
|        6 | E-Gaming Federation                                            |
|        7 | US-India Business Council (USIBC)                              |
|        8 | India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA)              |
|        9 | Skyscanner                                                     |
|       10 | ASSOCHAM                                                       |
|       11 | US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)                  |
|       12 | Match Group                                                    |
|       13 | Founders and Investors of the Indian Digital Startup Ecosystem |
|       14 | Indian Governance and Policy Project (IGAP)                    |
|       15 | Play Games24*7 Private Limited                                 |
|       16 | Nasscom                                                        |
|       17 | Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India                            |
|       18 | Tech Freedom                                                   |
|       19 | All India Gaming Federation (AIGF)                             |
|       20 | India Regulatory Practices Group LLP (IRPG)                    |
|       21 | Meta Platforms Inc.                                            |
|       22 | Civis                                                          |

|   23. | Shilpi Bhattacharya, Professor, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS)                                    |
|-------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    24 | Centre for Competition Law and Economics (CCLE)                                                    |
|    25 | Amazon India                                                                                       |
|    26 | India MART                                                                                         |
|    27 | Airtel                                                                                             |
|    28 | ACCESS Now                                                                                         |
|    29 | International Bar Association (IBA)                                                                |
|    30 | Broadband India Forum (BIF)                                                                        |
|    31 | Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation(IBDF) & Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation(IDMIF) |
|    32 | Coalition for App Fairness (CAF)                                                                   |
|    33 | OLA Electric                                                                                       |
|    34 | The Dialogue                                                                                       |
|    35 | Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF)                                                                  |
|    36 | International Center for Law & Economics                                                           |
|    37 | Motion Picture Dist. Association (India) Private Limited (MPA)                                     |
|    38 | Indian Chamber of Commerce(ICC)                                                                    |
|    39 | PRS Legislative Research                                                                           |
|    40 | EBC Publishing Private Limited and SCC Online                                                      |
|    41 | MakeMyTrip India Private Limited                                                                   |
|    42 | Alliance of Digital India Foundation( ADIF)                                                        |
|    43 | MAIT                                                                                               |
|    44 | TATA Digital                                                                                       |
|    45 | Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)                                                                 |
|    46 | PhonePe Private Limited                                                                            |
|    47 | Trilegal                                                                                           |

| 48. Netflix                                                 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| 49. Zomato                                                  |
| 50. Google                                                  |
| 51. National Law Institute University, Bhopal               |
| 52. National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI)         |
| 53. India Tech.Org                                          |
| 54. Induslaw                                                |
| 55. Digital News Publishers Association(DNPA)               |
| 56. Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC)                      |
| 57. Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)        |
| 58. Hindustan Unilever Limited                              |
| 60. ESYA Centre                                             |
| 61. PROSUS                                                  |
| 62. CUTS international                                      |
| 63. DeepStrat Pvt Ltd                                       |
| 64. FICCI                                                   |
| 65. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) |
| 66. (ACT)The App Association                                |
| 67. Anupam Sanghi & Associates (ASA)                        |
| 68. Asia Internet Coalition (AIC)                           |
| 69. Asia Travel Technology Industry Association (ATTIA)     |
| 70. Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)   |
| 71. Indian Music Industry (IMI)                             |
| 72. Microsoft                                               |
| 73. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)                  |
| 74. DMD Advocates                                           |

|   75. | All India Chartered Accountant Society (AICAS)                                                                                     |
|-------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    76 | Economists at Compass Lexicon (Justin Coombs, Kadambari Prasad, Neha Georgie) and FTI Consulting (Avinash Mehrotra, Jincy Francis) |
|    77 | Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)                                                                                              |
|    78 | Sidharth Chauhan, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University                  |
|    79 | BTG Advaya                                                                                                                         |
|    80 | Rishab Bailey and IT for Change                                                                                                    |
|    81 | DSK Legal- Advocates and Solicitors                                                                                                |
|    82 | Truecaller                                                                                                                         |
|    83 | Dynamic Competition Initiative (DCI)                                                                                               |
|    84 | Touchstone Partners                                                                                                                |
|    85 | Economic Laws Practice (ELP)                                                                                                       |
|    86 | Data Security Council of India (DSCI)                                                                                              |
|    87 | Uber                                                                                                                               |
|    88 | Nabin Jain                                                                                                                         |
|    89 | Ruchika Gambhir(Researcher)                                                                                                        |
|    90 | Abhivardhan (Indic Pacific Legal Research)                                                                                         |
|    91 | Rashmi Baranwal(Professional)                                                                                                      |
|    92 | Abhishek Murukate                                                                                                                  |
|    93 | Vikas Kathuria(Researcher)                                                                                                         |
|    94 | Jayshree Chandra(Professional)                                                                                                     |
|    95 | Amey Kantak(Researcher)                                                                                                            |
|    96 | Iqra Jabeen Ansari(LTIM)                                                                                                           |
|    97 | Pankhudi Khandelwal (Dynamin Competition Initiative)                                                                               |
|    98 | Blaise Fernandes(Indian Music Industry)                                                                                            |
|    99 | Jasleen Kaur(Professional)                                                                                                         |

|   100. | Murugavel Janakiraman (Matrimony.com)   |
|--------|-----------------------------------------|
|    101 | Ajay Kamath (Kamath Legal)              |
|    102 | Akanksha G(Researcher)                  |
|    103 | Neil Bhutani (Dawesco LLP)              |
|    104 | Vivek Agarwal                           |
|    105 | AMCHAM INDIA                            |
|    106 | People Group/Shaadi.com and others      |