The Digital Economy And Killer Acquisitions

The paper begins with a brief overview of the expanding digital economy in India, followed by adescription of the major debates surrounding merger control and innovation in digital markets along with the policy developments they have encouraged. The paper introduces the concept of 'killer acquisitions' and examines how unregulated digital markets can have a detrimental effect on innovation and free competition. We then explore how these developments have affected the Indian markets, the existing merger thresholds and the major policy concerns facing the CCI as a result. A comparative analysis of merger thresholds used by the UK, USA, India and others is included to demonstrate the efficacy of India's response strategy. After a detailed analysis of the CCI's competition regulation and conduct evaluation in digital markets, mergers and acquisitions control regime in India, market studies conducted by the CCI and the legislative reforms in the Indian Competition Laws, the paper presents a critique on these developments and finally, makes recommendations for merger control of digital markets and evaluation of notified mergers and acquisitions.