The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across sectors is opening up new competition challenges, prompting closer regulatory coordination to ensure markets remain open and consumers protected, Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chairperson, Ravneet Kaur said on Friday.
Speaking on the evolving impact of AI-driven markets, Kaur said that the technology is reshaping market structures at a pace that requires competition regulators to rethink traditional enforcement tools. The remarks were made at a pre-summit event of the AI Impact Summit 2026, jointly organised by CCI and Nasscom, in the national capital.
CCI said that issues arising from AI ranging from market concentration to consumer harm cannot be addressed in isolation and demand sustained engagement among regulators.
Addressing the ‘Compute and Data’ Entry Barriers
To respond to the changing digital landscape, CCI has adopted a multi-pronged approach. As part of this effort, the regulator has set up a dedicated digital markets division to focus on technology-led sectors, including AI. The division is engaging with other domestic and global regulators to understand evolving best practices and policy responses.
According to CCI, the commission is particularly focused on ensuring that consumer interests remain central as AI adoption deepens across industries. This is in addition to striking a balance between innovation and regulation.
“We have to be growth oriented, we have to be facilitating business, we have to look at ease of doing business, but we cannot allow markets to eliminate competition, we cannot allow innovation to be stifled on the other hand,” a CCI official said addressing a recent market study by the commission.
The study finds that AI is driving efficiency and competitiveness across industries such as e-commerce, logistics, BFSI, and healthcare, but also raises competition concerns including market concentration, entry barriers due to data, compute and capital constraints, ecosystem lock-ins, algorithmic collusion, self-preferencing, and risks arising from mergers and partnerships.
CCI said that its approach emphasises dialogue, transparency, self-regulation, and compliance through AI audits, safeguards, and disclosure, so that innovation and growth is balanced with fairness, consumer protection, and prevention of power concentration.
Global Patterns and the Risk of AI Monopolies
Speaking at the event, CCI Secretary Inder Pal Singh Bindra said the watchdog is closely examining how AI is influencing competitive behaviour and market outcomes. He said the regulator is monitoring emerging patterns globally, where a small number of dominant players are controlling AI development and deployment, leaving limited space for smaller firms to enter or scale.
“We are looking after all the patterns. If we look from a world wide perspective, there is some monopoly which is giving less leeway for small organisations to enter into creation and development of AI,” Bindra said.
Bindra added that CCI is conscious of potential harms to citizens and is working to ensure these risks are addressed within the framework of competition law.