Rising Market Concentration in India: Addressing the Dark Side of Capitalism

[Fahiyaz Ahmmed]

Dear Experts,

India is increasingly witnessing market concentration across key sectors such as telecom, retail, and digital services. Prolonged predatory pricing, aggressive acquisitions, and regulatory loopholes have led to the elimination of competitors, resulting in duopoly or oligopoly market structures.

In telecom, extended free or below-cost services triggered consolidation, leaving a near-triopoly, while legacy players faced severe AGR liabilities—forcing government intervention through equity conversion and blurring the line between state support and free-market competition. Similar concerns arise in retail, where sustained underpricing may eliminate small competitors, potentially enabling future cartelization and price inflation.

Further, enforcement challenges persist as Competition Commission of India (CCI) orders are frequently stayed or overturned by higher courts. The entry of new technologies, such as satellite-based internet services, also raises fresh concerns regarding regulatory capture and long-term competition.

In this context, what policy, regulatory, and institutional reforms should India adopt to balance capitalism with effective competition, prevent cartelization, protect consumers, and ensure sustainable market fairness—without discouraging innovation and investment?

AI Summary

Rising Market Concentration in India: recommend stronger merger control, abuse of dominance remedies and enforcement reforms to protect consumers Rising market concentration across telecom, retail and digital services is linked to prolonged predatory pricing, aggressive acquisitions and regulatory gaps; strengthening merger control and transaction review would curb consolidation and reduce risk of oligopoly and cartelisation. Tightening abuse of dominance enforcement and prescribing deterrent remedies for below-cost pricing would protect competitors and consumers. Enhancing appellate and execution procedures to prevent prolonged stays on competition orders would secure effective enforcement. Safeguards against regulatory capture and tailored regulatory frameworks for emergent technologies would preserve contestability while allowing innovation and investment to continue.