The Morning Brief India’s Setting New Rules for the Digital Space, but Why?
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Aug 19, 2025 Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director of The Dialogue, shares insights on India's new Digital Competition Bill. He discusses how this legislation aims to curtail anti-competitive practices by major tech firms. Rizvi questions the need for new rules, suggesting that enhancing existing regulations might be more effective. He highlights concerns about potential burdens on digital-first businesses and advocates for a balanced approach. By referencing recent cases, he emphasizes the importance of measuring success through outcomes rather than imposing fresh legislation.
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From Ex‑Post To Ex‑Ante Rules
- The Digital Competition Bill shifts enforcement from slow ex-post litigation to preemptive ex-ante guardrails for systemically significant platforms.
- It targets self-preferencing, data misuse, coercive tying, and stealth throttling under the Competition Commission of India.
A Crowded Digital Rulebook
- India already has multiple overlapping digital laws including DPDP, IT intermediary rules, and RBI/NPCI payment rules.
- Adding the DCB risks complicating an already crowded legal landscape unless matched with clear scope and capacity.
How The Draft Bill Emerged
- The Ministry of Corporate Affairs set up a Committee on Digital Competition Law which produced a draft Digital Competition Bill in early 2024.
- The draft proposed designating firms with $30bn global turnover and 10m Indian users as SSDEs with specific conduct bans.