Abuse of dominance in Indian E-Commerce: Issues and challenges

Abstract

Electronic commerce is referred to as e-commerce. It's a business medium where transactions are conducted electronically through networks and the internet. E-commerce promotes community growth but also has a big impact on a society's social and economic structure. It provides a platform where small sellers or the new market entrants can explore distinct options of widening their businesses due to low infrastructural and maintenance costs. However, this new sector besides having its own unique features also has a unique set of issues in addition to those that are prevalent in the conventional physical market.This research work attempts to analyse the different issues and challenges in light of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2000 that have come up before the regulating authority with the growth and expansion of the digital economy. This section prohibits ‘abuse of dominant position’ in India. When an enterprise or a group of enterprises uses its dominant position in an exploitative manner in the relevant market then it is called as abuse of dominant position Earlier the economy of the country was completely operating as a physical market economy but with passage of time and due to technological innovations, digital economy has also emerged having its own unique features, advantages, disadvantages and issues. E-commerce is a part of the digital economy; thus, the focus of this research work is on the competition issues relating to abuse of dominance prevailing in the e-commerce that has evolved mainly due to technological innovations and developing at a faster rate with time.