Bharat Matrimony, ShareChat Oppose IAMAI’s Take On Digital Competition Bill

About two weeks after the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) wrote a dissenting letter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) over the draft Digital Competition Bill (DCB), four of its members have reportedly adopted a different stance.

Matrimony, ShareChat, Match Group, and Hoichoi have written to the ministry, urging it to implement the Bill at the earliest. They believe that the Bill could elevate some long-standing anti-competitive practices in the country’s digital ecosystem. 

“We state that IAMAI’s submission is not reflective of the entire digital startup ecosystem or IAMAI’s diverse membership of over 540 companies as only a miniscule percentage of these members have opposed the ex-ante provisions introduced by the DCB, yet the submission predominantly echoes this minority perspective,” ET cited the four members as saying in a letter sent to MCA secretary Manoj Govil. 

“We believe that such opposition of ex-ante regulations and continuation of the ex-post regime, will lead to status quo being maintained and allow entrenched players to continue exploiting regulatory gaps to stifle competition and innovation,” the letter added. 

This is the second instance when Matrimony.com and Hoichoi have reiterated their support for the Bill. On May 20, the aforementioned startups, along with 38 others, wrote to Govil, lauding the Bill. 

Meanwhile, the IAMAI’s stance on the bill arises from concerns that the Bill could lead to an increase in the costs for Indian startups. In its letter to the MCA, the IAMAI  dubbed the draft provisions “an unfair imposition on digital companies”, and pointed out that the ex-ante regime can increase their compliance burden as well as lead to a significant increase in operational costs.  

While the IAMAI has opposed the DCB, it has been taking other initiatives to curb the alleged abuse of dominance by big tech players in India. It set up a task force to look into market dominance of Google Play Billing System (GPBS) and IP-related matters to begin with. Post this investigation, the task force will shift its focus to broader concerns surrounding big tech and their alleged abuse of dominance. 

Besides the IAMAI, lobby group US-India Business Council (USIBC), which counts big tech giants like Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Walmart among its members, also came out in opposition of the Bill. 

The group compared the law to the European Union’s (EU’s) Digital Markets Act 2022 and said that the draft Digital Competition Bill is “much further in scope” than the EU’s law.

At the heart of all these is the draft Bill, which proposes a slew of obligations, including prevention of fraud, cybersecurity, prevention of trademark and copyright infringement, compliance to local laws, among others, on tech behemoths. 

Further, it also intends to give additional powers to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) by enhancing its technical capacity to ensure early detection and disposal of cases, need for dynamic regulation making, among others. 

It is pertinent to note that a number of big tech giants, including Google, Amazon, and Meta, are already under the CCI’s radar for alleged violations of the country’s laws.