Big Tech lobbyists raise alarm over India’s antitrust reform

Identifying potential bad actors and giving them clear ground rules, and reacting quickly when they break them, is an approach born out of the frustration regulators have experienced trying to keep up with the industry’s fast-paced, rule-breaking approach. And now India – the world’s most populous country – may take a similar approach thanks to a recently proposed government bill.

Big Tech understandably doesn’t want this to happen. Reuters reported today on a letter sent by the U.S.-India Business Council to the Indian government arguing that “targeted companies will likely reduce investments in India, pass on price increases for digital services and reduce the scope of services” in the country if it goes into effect. Indian Digital Competition Act.

The government panel proposed the bill in March and the consultation period has now ended; The US-India Business Council, whose board includes representatives of Google and Meta, submitted its comments at the last minute. Similar to EU law, the Indian proposal fines Big Tech companies up to 10% of global annual revenue for sins such as using personal data from one of the company’s services on another or curating their own services in search results. Apple would be forced to allow third-party app stores in India, as it does in Europe.

The council is not the only lobbying group advocating for companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon. The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), an American think tank financed by Big Tech and reliably speaking out in its interests, also presented arguments against the new law in response to Indian consultations – this time in publicly published comments, unlike those presented by the Business Council USA-India.

The ITIF believed that a move to so-called ex ante (i.e. pre-event) antitrust regulation could only be justified where a market had failed, and “it does not appear that there are no market failures in Indian digital markets.” The think tank also warned of a “damaging impact on innovation” that could “stifle” India’s economic aspirations.

However, Indian startups have a completely different approach, with dozens supporting the bill. “We see this as a catalyst for creating a fairer and more competitive digital ecosystem in the country that enables start-ups to thrive,” they told the government.

It is unclear what the Indian government will do next now that responses to the consultation have arrived, but if it pushes ahead with the bill, it would provide major support for a new European approach to regulating Big Tech. And in terms of the amount of fines that can be imposed, up to 10% of global revenues is bad enough if you get that fine in one place, but extremely damaging if different countries join in the fun.

More news below.

David Meyer

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