Competition Law in India The Progress of E-Commerce

Abstract

Competition laws or Anti-trust laws are laws that generally deal with and regulate anticompetitive behaviour by and between different enterprises. The primary reason for monitoring and regulating anti-competitive behaviour is that it promotes market competition. Competition law supervises acquisitions and mergers of large companies and further prohibits agreements that restrict free trading & competition. Competition law is also responsible for curbing abusive behaviour by a dominant enterprise in any sector. These are the very principles which guide the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and which led them to conduct a thorough market study on the growth of e-commerce in India. The CCI submitted its report on January 8, 2020, and released its findings to the public. The report addressed some specific areas which will be closely monitored by the CCI and which contain high-risk factors of corrupt trade practices. This paper seeks to provide a brief analysis of the report on the market study conducted by the CCI, instances of anti-trust law breaches committed by enterprises in the e-commerce domain all over the world and preparedness of the CCI in dealing with the future potential of e-commerce in India.