Webinar on Algorithmic collusion under Indian competition law

Webinar on Algorithmic collusion under Indian competition law

The resource person explained the elements to prove Tacit Collusion under the Indian Competition Act is, as such, an elusive task. With the ambiguous requirements of having to establish 'plus factors' which corroborates with parallel behaviour, the CCI and the NCLAT have been less than consistent with their jurisprudence, as evidenced by the decisions in the Tire case and  Cement cartel case. However, with the advent of e-commerce and digital markets, collusion in fixing prices can happen between pricing algorithms at a digital level, which cannot be detected so easily.  He elaborated on how the conventional definitions of 'agreement' under the competition law is ill suited to tackle collusion between algorithms. He further elucidated on the need for a  change in the CCIs approach towards anti-competitive agreements since the existing jurisprudence was legislated only for the brick and mortar world and not for the digital markets.

This topic holds importance as Algorithms are increasingly employed by businesses as an integral part of their business models given the availability of big data and breakthroughs.