Defining dominance

Google case can guide future investigations

Even as the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the Rs 1,338-crore penalty imposed on Google by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for abusing its dominant position, it offered the digital giant some relief by removing several conditions imposed by the competition watchdog. It also made a suggestion in its order about the need to use effect analysis to prove abuse of dominance. This could have a far-reaching impact on ongoing and future anti-competitive investigations by the CCI. In terms of users, India is the largest market for Google with 97 per cent of its smartphone users using