The parliamentary standing committee on finance on Tuesday deliberated on preparing a legal framework to ensure fair competitive practices in the digital space as it held a meeting with senior executives of the Indian arms of Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and others.
However, the companies resisted the idea, as they suggested against introducing further regulations, a member of the House panel told FE.
The senior executives who deposed before the House panel faced tough questions from its members on the practices they follow in India. Some members of the committee were of the view that the Big Tech companies are not allowing fair competition, he said.
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The panel is likely to include in its report issues like the need for ensuring fair competition, platform neutrality in case of e-commerce players, and data use in other key countries, he said.
Big Tech firms were asked by the panel about their market power in the country and how it impacts the consumers.
Sources said the parliamentary panel, headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha, also asked them to explain how app development is done and how they charge app developers.
As reported earlier, the issue before the parliamentary panel is to recommend a regulatory framework which creates a level playing field between the Big Tech firms and domestic tech startups like Flipkart, Paytm, Oyo Hotels and Homes, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, and MakeMyTrip. The domestic tech startups have been complaining that Big Tech firms indulge in anti-competitive practices by charging 30% for in-app purchases.
Last month, representatives of the domestic startups had met the parliamentary panel and presented their issues. Following it, the panel had on Tuesday called the Big Tech firms to get their viewpoints on the subject.
The parliamentary panel has already held deliberations with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and the ministry of corporate affairs. The CCI is already probing various cases in the digital space, following complaints of unfair business practices.
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For instance, WhatsApp’s policy of sharing users’ business related data with Facebook has already been objected to by the ministry of electronics and IT and is being looked into by the CCI. The matter is before the Delhi High Court also.
On April 28, the CCI had made a presentation about competition aspects in the marketplace to the parliamentary panel.