The two decisions, announced in a span of two days, have come in the run-up to the CCI setting up a dedicated Digital Markets and Data Unit (DMDU).
What has the CCI said in its orders?
In its order against Google on Thursday, the competition watchdog noted that the company was found “abusing its market dominant position” across multiple categories related to the Android mobile device ecosystem in the country.
In addition to imposing a provisional penalty, CCI has also prescribed a set of measures for the company to comply with. The regulator said makers of devices that run on Android shouldn’t be forced to pre-install Google services on their devices. It also asked Google to provide fair access to all stakeholders.
In a Wednesday order, the competition regulator fined online hotel-booking companies MakeMyTrip Ltd and Goibibo and IPO-bound hotel chain Oyo a combined $47 million for anti-competitive behaviour. The commission had been investigating the companies since 2019 following allegations by a hotel body that MakeMyTrip gave special treatment to SoftBank-backed Oyo on its platform.
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Why the increased focus?
For the last few years, the CCI has increased its focus on digital companies — both from a mergers and acquisition point of view, and from a dominant position perspective. Last week, CCI Chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta had said that the regulator was in the process of setting up a dedicated Digital Markets and Data Unit.
“In view of the number of cases and complexity in the digital sector and the increasing need for data and technology skills, CCI is in the process of setting up a dedicated Digital Markets and Data Unit. In addition to our staff from the law, economics and finance streams, we plan to staff the unit with new professional profiles such as data scientists, algorithm experts etc,” he had said.
What next?
While the DMDU could help the CCI expand capabilities to study potentially anticompetitive behaviour by tech companies, it remains to be seen if the regulator is able to make its case against these companies stand during an appeal.
In 2018, Google was fined Rs 136 crore by the regulator for search bias but the order was set aside by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.
