A day after facing criticism from startups for favouring big tech companies, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Tuesday said it has brought forward the views of the majority of its members on the proposed competition law.
The majority of its members opposed the idea of a separate law for digital companies proposed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, IAMAI president Subho Ray said in a letter to its members.
“The genesis of the recent social media and media buzz is the issue of the government setting up a committee to purportedly bring in a separate Competition Law for digital companies. One of the key features of the proposed new competition law is likely to be ex-ante regulations,” Ray said, adding that the same would also affect the smaller companies.
In a bid to curb anti-competitive practices by big tech companies, the parliamentary panel proposed measures like having ex-ante regulations, which means such companies would have to follow certain standards to protect consumers interest. The panel opposed post-ante regulations which means that these companies can only be punished after breaching a law.
In its draft submissions, IAMAI criticised the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance to introduce a new law for tackling Big Tech firms’ anti-competitive practices. “IAMAI is concerned that the recommendations in the report are neither targeted nor proportionate,” it said.
The same led to criticism by startups that the association is favoring the big tech companies such as Google, Meta, which are its members. Even the board structure of IAMAI includes executives of big tech companies.
In an email to its members, the association said the draft of IAMAI’s submission on the proposed competition law for big tech companies was shared with over 400 members in two tranches.
“The leaked document clearly stated that among the members who had made written submissions to us, an overwhelming majority were opposed to the idea of a separate competition law for digital companies as well as to ex-ante regulations,” Ray said.
“Yesterday was the last date for members to submit written views on the issue to us. We hope to finalise our response by the end of this week and share it with the government,” he added.
Some startups including MapMyIndia have also called for changes to be made in the IAMAI board structure.