Ravneet Kaur flags self-preferencing, discriminatory pricing and autonomous algorithmic behaviour as emerging competition risks from rapid AI adoption.
Rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) could amplify anti-competitive practices in digital markets, Competition Commission of India (CCI) chairperson Ravneet Kaur said on Monday, flagging risks including self-preferencing, discriminatory pricing, tying and market manipulation. She said AI was accelerating changes in digital markets and could create new challenges for competition regulators.
Speaking at a national training programme-cum-workshop for law students at the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER) in Goa, Kaur said digital markets had already been evolving rapidly, but the adoption of AI had accelerated this process further. She said businesses across sectors were increasingly using AI tools and applications, with benefits emerging in areas such as healthcare, education, logistics and supply chain management.
Kaur said the CCI was particularly examining the possibility of agentic AI being used to carry out potentially anti-competitive actions without direct human intervention. She cited the possibility of AI systems tracking a competitor's prices and independently responding by matching or cutting prices, potentially creating new forms of coordinated or exclusionary market behaviour.
She said these were among the potential concerns identified in the CCI's study on AI and competition, which the commission undertook last year. The study was aimed at understanding how AI could influence competitive conditions as businesses increasingly integrate the technology into their operations and decision-making processes.
CCI Studies Emerging Markets
Kaur said the CCI did not intend to intervene immediately whenever a new technology or market trend emerged. She said market studies were an important tool for understanding emerging issues before determining whether regulatory intervention was required, particularly given the size and rapid expansion of India's startup ecosystem.
She described competition law as an economic law that operates at the intersection of law, economics, public policy, corporate governance and technology. According to Kaur, the CCI's responsibilities broadly cover antitrust enforcement, regulation of mergers and combinations, and competition advocacy.
Kaur said the CCI did not object to enterprises becoming large or achieving a dominant position in their markets. The regulator's concern was the abuse of such dominance through exclusionary or exploitative practices that could harm competition or consumers.
She said India's competition framework had moved away from the earlier Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, following the economic reforms of 1991. The current approach was aimed at allowing businesses to grow while ensuring that companies did not rely on anti-competitive practices to achieve or maintain their market positions.
Innovation Must Drive Growth
Kaur said markets needed to remain competitive so that economic growth was driven by merit and innovation rather than exclusionary practices. She stressed that the CCI viewed itself as part of India's growth story and recognised that enabling businesses to expand was an important part of its role.
The regulator therefore faced the challenge of keeping pace with technological and market developments while ensuring that competition rules did not unnecessarily restrict innovation or legitimate business growth. Kaur also emphasised the importance of competition compliance among businesses, stressing that prevention of violations was preferable to corrective action after the fact.
CCI Director Rajinder Kumar, members Deepak Anurag and Sweta Kakkad, and Deputy Director K Sultanpuri participated in the four technical sessions held during the programme. The workshop focused on competition-law issues and emerging challenges arising from developments in technology and digital markets.
Source: BW Marketing World
