Amidst the anti-trust movements against the big technological firms, government of India needs to find solutions for better innovation in field of technology. Analyse (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· Antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently launched an investigation into the new WhatsApp privacy policy, has urged the Delhi High Court to restrain WhatsApp from implementing this
· The combined market capitalisation of the five Big Tech companies Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google (FAAMG) in 2020 was over $6 trillion, more than double the GDP of India.
· Governments globally have questioned some of these investments alleging that their objective is to neutralise competition, leading to monopolisation and stifling of innovation.
Solutions
· The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade introduced amendments to the FDI policy in 2018.
· It imposed embargoes on product exclusivity and prohibited inventory-based models for foreign e-commerce players.
· Stricter merger control, in addition to the financial thresholds, by a nation’s antitrust watchdog prior to a merger or acquisition which will entail a detailed investigation including a comprehensive due diligence into a potential transaction by the regulator.
· The tech sector will benefit immensely if policymakers across ministries align and expedite policymaking—from the MeitY on data protection (personal and non-personal data) and AI, to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on e-commerce and FDI, to the Ministry of Home Affairs on national security concerns, to the CCI on antitrust and merger control.
