Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to benchmark itself against global best practices in the rapidly evolving digital markets.
“As we evolve to be a digital economy, the challenges that digitisation brings are also important to address,” Sitharaman said while virtually inaugurating CCI’s western regional office in Mumbai.
The Minister’s remarks assume significance in the light of competition enforcement authorities in the European Union assuming forefront in the global push to rein in tech giants. In fact, between 2017 and 2019, the European Commission had slapped three anti-trust penalties, totaling over $8 billion on Google. The CCI, too, is currently looking into as many as three separate cases against Google.
Fair competition
Sitharaman pointed out that issues of fair competition arise in the context of multinational nature of activities, especially when companies seek to have interlocking position in global value chains. There are holding companies, new acquisitions and there are mergers happening across the world. Issues of fair competition have to be fairly and squarely addressed according to the laws of the land, she said.
“CCI should keep one eye on the Indian law and its evolution as regards fair trade and competition, but equally it has to keep an eye on what is developing in different parts of the world and benchmark it against best practices that can be brought to India’s advantage,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sitharaman also wanted CCI to be proactive in using its powers in areas which are posing some questions of fair competition, instead of waiting for people to approach it.
“CCI cannot remain an exclusive club of those who understands its nitty-gritties and should not be …a distant try for somebody who needs that information. Access is what is empowering people and would help get the relief they need,” she said.
‘Ease of accessibility’
Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairperson, CCI, said in a country as vast and diverse as India, setting up regional offices has been a key step towards competition enforcement. He highlighted that CCI’s presence in the financial hub of the country will provide ease of accessibility to numerous stakeholders, augment advocacy outreach in this region, and fulfil a longstanding demand of stakeholders.
The Regional Office (West) in Mumbai is the third such office opened by CCI, after Regional Office (South) in Chennai (inaugurated in February 2021) and Regional Office (East) in Kolkata (inaugurated in April 2022).