Assessing the Digital Competition Bill, 2024: A Proposal to Feel the Stones Before Crossing the River [pre publication]
Shruti Murali et al.
What the paper says
p class="MsoNormal"This article critically assesses the Digital Competition Bill, 2024 (‘DCB’), introduced by the Indian government proposing an ex-ante framework to regulate the digital economy. The article argues for a phased implementation of the proposed ex-ante framework, with revisions to the current draft based on market studies, practical realities, and jurisprudential prerequisites, especially in light of India’s nascent digital economy. The article, recognizing that ex-ante law has become a mainstream tool to regulate the digital economy, highlights the need for extensive evidence-based assessment of market failures before imposing extensive regulations. It emphasizes the importance of measuring implementation costs and potential conflicts with existing regulatory frameworks. The article analyses the draft DCB’s potential impact on the Indian economy, emphasizing the need to scrutinize provisions that could affect dynamic growth. For instance, the DCB’s broad definitions and low thresholds for designating Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (‘SSDEs’) could lead to over-regulation. The article suggests that the DCB should be optimized to avoid unintended negative consequences for India’s digital economy. It calls for wider consultations and further studies on the DCB’s impact before its full implementation.o:p/o:p
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.