A parliamentary panel had grilled Big Tech firms which would include companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and Uber on alleged anti-competitive practices on Tuesday. A legal framework was discussed by the panel to make sure truthful competition within the country. The move would shortly come when the European Union passed the Digital Marketing Act, which would come into force from next year. Last month, the parliamentary panel had questioned representatives of eight companies which includes Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, and MakeMyTrip. 

HIGHLIGHTS
The parliamentary panel had questioned representatives of eight companies
The panel study problems related to pricing, platform neutrality and how data used
Digital Markets Act was designed to regulate tech giants such as Google, etc. 

According to a report, the members of the parliamentary panel which was led by Union Minister Jayant Sinha, had recommended that they would require legislation in the place that was 'not business unfriendly however at the same time it saves the interests of the customers similarly.'

The panel had also suggested that the important tech firms ought to 'leave it to the restricted wisdom of lawmakers in order to manage within the manner as they deemed fit,' when the companies have suggested that no extra regulation was needed. 

Among the representatives who were present at the hearing on Tuesday were Amazon India Country Manager, Consumer Business, Manish Tiwary; and Apple India Managing Director Strategy and Policy, Virat Bhatia. Facebook India Head of Public Policy Rajiv Aggarwal; Google India Director Government Affairs and Public Policy Archana Gulati; Netflix India Director Head of Indian Policy Ambika Khurana along with Twitter India Senior Director Public Policy Samiran Gupta and Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh, were other representatives who had deposed it before the panel. 

The panel has been functioning on a report which was expected within the initial week September on the evolution of competition law for digital markets which would deal specifically with matters which were associated with competitive conduct and competitive behavior, the minister had reportedly stated after the meeting. In addition to this the panel would study problems which were associated with pricing, platform neutrality, and the way data was used in adjacent markets.  

The minister had also stated that the report would consider the country's unique circumstances, however it would 'intensively examine and consider the competition law which was related to digital markets around the world.' Last month, the EU had passed the Digital Markets Act, a collection of landmark rules which were designed to regulate tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

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