Register: Panel Discussion on 'Equipping India’s competition law for challenges posed by Big Tech' by ADIF

The discussion will be anchored in recent global developments around regulating anti-competitive conduct in digital markets, particularly by Big Tech companies.

Digital markets – by their nature – enjoy high levels of network effects, which can lead to some large entities gaining dominant market positions. When in “gatekeeping” positions, Big Tech companies can also exercise significant control over end consumers and other businesses reliant on their services.

Market players, both in India and globally, have expressed concerns about such dominance of gatekeepers in digital markets. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has also assessed some of these issues in its ongoing investigations.

However, the world over, antitrust regulators seem to be finding existing competition law frameworks inadequate in assessing dominance and some nations have found novel ways to deal with these inadequacies.

South Korea, for instance, has amended existing laws, while others such as the EU and the US are considering ex-ante legislation that will govern the behaviour of gatekeepers and prevent anti-competitive conduct before irrevocable damage occurs.

To drive a discussion around these developments, and to understand how India’s competition law framework can be better equipped for the challenges posed by digital markets, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) has organized a panel discussion on how to equip India’s competition law framework for the challenges posed by digital markets.

To drive the conversation, we will be joined by an esteemed panel of experts who have been at the forefront of these discussions:

• Dr. Amar Patnaik (MP, Rajya Sabha (Odisha), Member - Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance)

• Dr. Damien Geradin (Founding Partner, Geradin Partners)

• Saumya Singh Rathore (Co-founder, Winzo)

• Rajneesh Jaswal (General Counsel, Koo)

• Sijo Kuruvilla George (Executive Director, ADIF)

The panel will be moderated by Manjushree RM (Senior Resident Fellow, Law and Technology, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy) and Amanat Khullar (Content and Editorial Manager, ADIF).

Date: 5th July, 2022; 5 PM (IST)

Registration link: bit.ly/ADIFxPanel

Contact: amanat@adif.in

The joining link will be shared with all registered participants via email, closer to the date of the panel discussion.