Lok Sabha Question No. 2653 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-07
Subject: Big Tech Companies in India
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Manish Tewari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2653

TO BE ANSWER ON:  07.08.2024

## BIG TECH COMPANIES IN INDIA

## 2653.  SHRI MANISH TEWARI:

Will  the  Minister  of  ELECTRONICS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY  be  pleased  to state:

- (a)   the manner in which the Government has taken measures to address antitrust concerns and prevent monopolistic practices by Big Tech companies to ensure fair competition and consumer rights in India;
- (b)      the  manner  in  which  the  Government has  taken steps to support and promote  Indian tech companies in competing with Big Tech, both domestically and internationally; and
- (c)   the manner in which Government has adopted global best practices in regulating Big Tech to keep India's digital ecosystem secure, innovative, and competitive?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a)  to  (c):      The  Competition  Commission  of  India  is  the  statutory  body  that  enforces  the Competition Act, 2002 (the Act). Any agreement between enterprises that causes or is likely to cause  an  appreciable  adverse  effect  on  competition  is  prohibited  under  Section  3  of  the  Act. Section  4  of  the  Act  prohibits  abuse  of  dominant  position  by  enterprises  including  Big  Tech companies.  The  Commission  adjudicates  matters  involving  allegations  of  anti-competitive behaviour by enterprises, and intervenes, if found necessary, with appropriate remedies/directions to ensure fair competition and level playing field for all stakeholders.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in its Report on 'Anti-Competitive Practices by  Big  Tech  Companies'  presented  before  the  Lok  Sabha  inter  alia  observed  that  an  ex-post approach may  not be sufficient to remedy conducts in fast-paced digital markets and recommended that the behaviour of large digital enterprises should be monitored ex-ante.

In this backdrop, the Committee on Digital Competition Law (Committee) was constituted by the Ministry  of  Corporate  Affairs  to  inter-alia  evaluate  the  need  for  an  ex-ante  competition framework for digital markets in India.  The Committee recommended that ex- ante measures be introduced to complement the current ex-post framework by identifying large digital enterpriseswith  a  'significant  presence'  (known  as  Systemically  Significant  Digital  Enterprises (SSDEs)) in India providing Core Digital Services (CDSs) and setting pre-determined obligations for them to address anti-competitive Practices (ACPs).

A draft  of  the  Digital  Competition  Bill  (Draft  DCB)  was  enclosed  with  the  Report,  which  has been  published  for  public  comments  on  15 th March,  2024.    This  draft  can  be  accessed  on: https://www.mca.gov.in/bin/dms/getdocument?mds=gzGtvSkE3zIVhAuBe2pbow%253D%253D &type=open

The  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  is  coordinating  strategic  activities, promoting  skill  development  programmes,  enhancing  infrastructure  capabilities  and  supporting R&D for India's leadership position in IT and IT-enabled Services. As per industry estimates, in FY 2023, India's technology industry revenue including hardware was about $ 245 billion.

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