Paper short abstract:

In this paper, case decisions of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will be discussed in the light of a theoretical Industrial Organisation (IO) model involving buyers, sellers and a dominant platform.

Paper long abstract:

Platform based markets or two-sided platforms refer to a market situation where two distinct groups interact with each other by means of a common platform. Digitalisation and globalisation waves have increased the induction of platforms in our country and the growth of such platforms has made names like Flipkart, eBay, Snapdeal, Amazon, OLA, Uber, etc. familiar in every household. Along with their development, implications for analysing anti-trust and regulatory policies on anti-competitive strategies have simultaneously cropped up. Concentration of power, abuse of dominant position in relevant geographical market and predatory pricing has been common allegations on these platform markets, India is not an exception. Competition Commission of India as the sectoral regulator receives and decides on cases related to platform markets and their anti-competitive practices. Dynamics of platform markets are high, and the regulator has to keep pace with the changing times. In this paper, case analysis and the decisions of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will be discussed in the light of the theoretical Industrial Organisation (IO) model involving buyers, sellers and a dominant platform. The model has been developed to analyse the approach of the regulator and highlight the cross-roads of competition given the global pedagogy of growth and the multiplication of two-sided markets in generating a large share of contribution to any economy’s growth. India as a developing economy needs these platform markets but at the same time one of the core requirements of healthy growth is uniform competition and the same should not be compromised.