Govt Panel To Finalise Digital Competition Report By Next Month

Five months after its constitution, the government-appointed digital competition law panel is reportedly all set to finalise its report on the matter in August. 

A senior government official told news agency PTI that the timeline for the finalisation of the report has been extended, adding that the committee was also exploring a multi-agency approach to regulating digital markets. 

Helmed by corporate affairs secretary Manoj Govil, the panel has already held 11 meetings so far. 

The official also said that multiple stakeholders and agencies, including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, were involved in deliberations on the competition issues in the digital space. The official added that the committee was looking into the scope of various digital regulations as well as other aspects of digital markets.

This is in line with a similar sentiment that echoed during a meeting on the same issue between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar earlier this month.

The ministers had then also built consensus on adopting a ‘Whole Government approach’ while framing digital competition laws. 

At the centre of the saga is the digital competition panel that the government has tasked to prepare a report on the burgeoning space. The report will look into various challenges associated with the digital economy and will also examine the need for separate ex-ante legislation to oversee the growing Indian digital economy.

The panel has also been envisaged with looking into whether existing rules under the Competition Act, 2002, are sufficient to deal with challenges arising out of digital markets. It will also review international best practices to formulate a report on the matter. 

Currently, all competition-related issues in India are overseen by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

However, after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance released its report on the alleged anti-competitive practices of big tech last year, the government went into overdrive and appointed a full-fledged panel to look into various aspects of digital competition in February this year.

The ball now appears to be in the court of the government-appointed panel, and all eyes are now on the committee as to what rules it comes up with.