MNLU Mumbai Hosts National Virtual Consultation Workshop On India's Digital Competition Law
Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) Mumbai, established under the Maharashtra National Law University Act, 2014, stands as one of India's National Law Universities. The University is strengthening its academic, administrative, and financial infrastructure to meet the norms of propriety and transparency.
The Centre for Information Communication Technology and Law (CICTL), MNLU Mumbai, in collaboration with TechRegForum, organised the National Virtual Consultation Workshop on Building a Balanced Framework for India's Digital Competition Law on 23rd August 2025. CICTL, a centre at MNLU Mumbai, has been facilitating dialogue at the intersection of law, technology, and policy. The TechRegForum, founded by Ms. Anupam Sanghi, a TMT Lawyer with more than two decades in practice, is a knowledge forum focused on researched Techno-Legal solutions
The workshop brought together judges, academicians, practitioners, economists, and other stakeholders to discuss the evolving regulatory framework governing digital markets, particularly in the context of the proposed digital competition bill.
The inaugural session featured:
- Justice Anish Dayal, Judge, Delhi High Court as the Chief Guest,
- Professor Giorgio Monti, Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg University, as the Guest of Honour, and
- Mr. Sharad Sharma, co-founder of iSPIRT, as the Keynote Speaker.
Justice Dayal reflected on the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping digital markets and urged that competition law must anticipate changes 10–15 years ahead. Prof. Monti called for regulatory cooperation to avoid duplication of cases. Mr. Sharma, drawing on India's success with digital public infrastructure such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), and DigiYatra, stressed the importance of techno-legal regulation and citizen agency in building fair and competitive digital ecosystems.
The first session, which was the Dialogue Session, was moderated by Ms. Anupam Sanghi, and focused on the evidentiary role of data in digital competition regulation. The session included deliberations from Dignitaries including Dr. Lalit Bhasin, President of the Society of Indian Law Firms; Dr. Geeta Gouri, former Member (Economics) of Competition Commission of India (CCI); Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh, Dean at SRM University and Prof. Viswanath Pingali of IIM Ahmedabad. The session explored a wide spectrum of challenges: Dr. Bhasin highlighted the irreplaceable role of human judgment in law amidst the growing influence of AI; Dr. Gouri emphasized the rise of “data markets” and the challenges faced by CCI in adapting to the digital economy; Dr. Singh explained the persistent debate over ex-ante regulations (whether rules should be imposed before harm occurs) and noted that this discussion has been triggered by the rise of dominant players in digital markets; Prof. Pingali drew on behavioral economics to analyse platform competition.
The second session, which was a Panel Discussion was again moderated by Ms. Anupam Sanghi, who emphasised the global impact of digital competition regulations. The main focus of the session was emphasising the necessity of a clear purpose in developing India's competition regime, with unresolved questions central to the digital competition law committee's report. This session featured insights from Prof. (Dr.) Shilpi Bhattacharya, who conducted an analysis of the WhatsApp Privacy case. The key findings focused on the lack of transparency in data collection and the absence of consumer choice due to WhatsApp's coercive terms of service. Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoppner discussed about the necessity for effective remedies to address the abuse of dominance. Dr. Amber Darr, through a comparative analysis, discussed about the divergent experiences of other nations, such as Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, which have faced varying levels of success and resistance in their regulatory efforts. Ms. Odie Strydom, touched upon South Africa's market inquiries into online intermediation platforms, which revealed issues like Google's self-referencing practices and discriminatory conduct by property service platforms. These inquiries led to recommendations aimed at improving market fairness and competition. The discussions placed India's draft Digital Competition Bill in a broader international context, particularly in relation to frameworks such as the EU's Digital Markets Act.
The third session was the Stakeholder Roundtable session where distinguished stakeholders were invited from all across the globe to engage directly with the panel and pose questions and explore solutions to critical issues relating to the subject matter under discussion.
The event highlighted the need for a framework that protects innovation, ensures consumer welfare, and strengthens India's role in the global digital economy.