Syed Imran Haider 
A US lobby group that represents tech giants Amazon, Google and Apple, has asked India to reconsider its proposed competition law, similar to the EU.
The lobby group argued that user costs could rise due to regulations against preferential treatment of partners and data use.
The law
Back in February, a government panel in India had proposed imposing obligations on digital companies in India via a new antitrust law.
According to the panel, a few big digital companies in the country have a great deal of market power. The new law will complement existing regulations.
The panel asserted that it is ‘time-consuming’ to implement these regulations. The ‘Digital Competition Bill’ introduced in India is similar to the landmark Digital Markets Act 2022 introduced in the EU.
It will be applicable to big companies. These includes firms that have a global turnover exceeding $30 billion and with at least 10 million local users of their digital services.
Thus, some of the biggest tech firms in the world would come under its ambit. Under the law, companies cannot exploit the non-public data of its users.
Likewise, they cannot promote their own services over competitors. In addition, restrictions imposed on the download of third-party apps would also be abolished.
The impact
On May 15th, a letter was sent to the Corporate Affairs Ministry in India, which is working on the law. The US-India Business Council (USIBC) sent the letter, which is part of the US Chamber of Commerce.
It was stated in the letter that these strategies are used by companies for boosting user security and for launching new products.
The letter said that the draft Indian law had a more extensive scope than that of the European Union. It added that companies targeted would likely reduce their investment in the country.
Moreover, they may also reduce the range of their services and pass on the increased cost of digital services to users.
Therefore, the USIBC has requested the government to reconsider the law in question.
The market
Big tech companies consider India a lucrative market, given that it has a population of 1.4 billion people and its affluent class is growing.
This month, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said that in the March quarter, the company had posted a ‘revenue record’. In comparison, its global revenue had recorded a 4% decline.
According to the Indian panel, they require the new law due to the immense control of a few large digital companies over the market.
Similar to the EU, it has recommended that a penalty be applicable for violations. This would be 10% of the annual global turnover of the company.
For years, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been investigating bit tech companies. In 2022, it had imposed a fine on Google of $161 million.
The company had been ordered to stop restricting users from deleting pre-installed apps and allowing downloads without the app store.
As per Google, these measures help in boosting user security. There is also an antitrust investigation ongoing into Amazon for favoring selected sellers on its Indian website.
