DCI Submission to the India Ministry of Corporate Affairs on the Draft Digital Competition Bill

In its comments on the ‘Draft Digital Competition Bill’ for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India, the Dynamic Competition Initiative (DCI) suggests that the Digital Competition Act could focus on a dual target of (i) commodification of core platform rents, where network effects create longstanding monopoly power, and (ii) incentivisation of platform exit from the monopoly sector by giving them the freedom to enter other, non-adjacent markets. To achieve this, the ex-ante regime should focus on obligations targeted at the core platform or adjacent markets. The ex-post antitrust enforcement structure can then be used as a backstop for platform anti-competitive redeployment in more distant markets, subject to the rule of reason.