The Union government is expected to revise the proposed Digital Competition Bill (DCB) before introducing it in Parliament, according to reports from The Financial Express. The government is considering increasing the financial and user thresholds for identifying companies that will come under the law, while retaining its proposed 'ex ante' regulatory framework. This revision follows concerns from several domestic digital businesses and industry groups that the thresholds in the 2024 draft Bill were broad enough to capture Indian technology companies alongside global Big Tech firms. The review comes as competition policy frameworks globally continue to evolve in response to geopolitical rivalry, economic nationalism, and strategic competition that have become defining features of the regulatory landscape.
The proposed law introduces the concept of a Systemically Significant Digital Enterprise (SSDE), which are companies that have a major presence in one or more Core Digital Services. According to the draft Bill, these services include online search engines, app stores, social networking services, operating systems, browsers, cloud services, online intermediation services and digital advertising services. Under the 2024 draft Bill, a company could qualify if it crossed specified financial thresholds and user thresholds over the previous three financial years, including ₹4,000 crore turnover in India, or $30 billion global turnover, or ₹16,000 crore gross merchandise value in India, or $75 billion global market capitalisation. The draft also proposed user thresholds of at least 10 million end users in India, or at least 10,000 business users in India.
The proposed law introduces an ex ante regulatory framework that places obligations on designated companies in advance so that certain practices are prevented instead of being investigated years later. According to the Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL), digital markets often move much faster than traditional markets because of network effects, economies of scale, data advantages and platform ecosystems. Once designated as an SSDE, companies would have to comply with conduct requirements including avoiding self-preferencing, unfair tying and bundling of services, unfair use of business-user data, and restricting business users from communicating directly with customers. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) would also have the power to designate companies based on qualitative factors such as network effects, user dependence, market structure and barriers to entry.
Several Indian digital businesses and industry associations have argued that the original thresholds could bring domestic companies under a compliance framework designed largely for global digital gatekeepers. Their concerns centred on higher compliance costs, the possibility that rapidly growing startups would face regulatory obligations too early, and the risk that stricter regulation could affect innovation and expansion. The review follows concerns that the original thresholds were broad enough to potentially capture several Indian digital businesses that were still expanding, including companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Flipkart and Oyo. These concerns are particularly relevant as competition policy continues to evolve in 2026, shaped by an increasingly fragmented global order where regulators are responding to geopolitical rivalry and strategic competition with broader strategic imperatives.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is reviewing the draft Bill before its introduction in Parliament. If the reported revisions are adopted, the Digital Competition Bill would continue to rely on an ex ante framework but with narrower thresholds aimed at ensuring it primarily regulates global technology gatekeepers rather than a wider group of Indian digital businesses. The Bill seeks to complement India's existing Competition Act by adding preventive measures for digital markets while promoting contestability, fairness and transparency, fostering innovation and protecting users' interests. This regulatory approach aligns with global trends where regulators are increasingly integrating competition policy with broader strategic imperatives like national security, economic resilience, industrial strategy and technological sovereignty.
