Background
The Indian government established a “Committee on Digital Competition Law” (CDCL) in
February 2023 based on the 53rd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
(2022-23) titled “Anti-competitive Practices by Big Tech Companies.” The CDCL submitted
a draft Digital Competition Bill (DCB) in February 2024. This proposed ex-ante law is to be
enforced by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
As per the draft DCB, in general, ‘Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises’ (SSDEs)
(designated based on the given criteria) providing the identified ‘Core Digital Services’ (CDS)
would have to comply with certain extra obligations from a competition point of view. One
such identified CDS is “cloud services.” No rationale for such inclusion has been given in the
CDCL report, though. Also, there has been no concrete evidence in the form of market studies
or case laws by CCI that can support such inclusion.
Project Objective
context and laws;
gatekeepers, including multi-sidedness, network effects, winner-takes-all, and tipping
of the market;
and
Indian business users, particularly start-ups, end users/consumers and investment
climate, as well as on the growth of the digital economy.
The overall aim is to influence the polity with evidence to make informed decisions on the
inclusion of ‘cloud services’ within the purview of the proposed ex-ante digital competition
law.
Methodology
The study will involve both secondary and primary research. An extensive literature review
will be conducted, examining existing market studies, competition case laws, academic papers,
and other relevant literature on cloud services and digital competition. This background
research will provide critical context and help identify key research questions and areas of
focus.
The primary data will be mainly collected through one-on-one interviews with cloud users –
both business users and end consumers – using a semi-structured questionnaire. For a better
understanding of the potential respondents, hypothetical scenarios may have to be constructed
around specific obligations mentioned in the DCB, such as self-preferencing, data usage, tying
and bundling etc. The respondents will be sampled through a stratified random sampling
method.
Consultations with other stakeholders, including cloud service providers, legal and academic
experts, domain specialists, government officials, potential investors etc. will also be
conducted, based on specific semi-structured questions meant for each.
The research will pay special attention to understanding market characteristics like multi-
sidedness, network effects, potential market tipping, and “winner-takes-all” dynamics, among
others. It will also look into competition issues, such as restrictions on multi-cloud,
interoperability, licensing restrictions, vendor lock-in, egress fee, deep discounting, entry and
exit barriers etc. Further, the impact of the proposed ex-ante regulation of cloud services on
business users (particularly the start-up community) and end users/consumers will be gauged
based on the gathered primary data through interviews.
Outputs
● Three Policy Briefs:
a. An Analysis of reported competition concerns in the cloud services market in Indian context
using the Competition Act, 2002
b. Should cloud services be included in an ex-ante digital competition law?
c. Potential Impact of Incorporating Cloud Services in the Proposed DCB
● One Slide Deck synthesising the above-mentioned three policy briefs, including summary of
key data and conclusions.
● Two Workshops in Bangalore and New Delhi, respectively
Outcome
● More awareness among polity, leading to informed and evidence-based policy
making.
● Review of the proposed draft DCB vis-à-vis inclusion of ‘cloud services’ in the same.
● Better awareness among regulators, competition practitioners and experts, businesses,
consumers and service providers about competition issues in cloud services market.
● Optimal regulation, leading to fair market and innovation.
Publications
-
Coming soon……..
Media
-
Coming Soon….
Events
Output & Outcomes
Contact Us
Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS)
D–217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302016, Rajasthan, India
Ph: +91 141 2282821, Fax: +91 141 2282485, Email: cuts@cuts.org