An Economic Analysis of the Effectiveness of Relevant Market Delineation Methods in Abuse of Dominant Position Cases in India

In antitrust legislation, determining the relevant market is fundamental and a major determinant of how abuse of dominant position cases are decided. In the Indian context, the Competition Act lists factors to determine the relevant market. However, the relevant market delineation involves a lot of subjectivity, resulting in arbitrary decision-making and several case laws being testaments to the same. Further, the increasing variety in online marketplaces, the emergence of new e-commerce business models, and contemporary determinants of the relevant market (such as network effects) have made the issue even more complex and subjective. The paper argues that the mechanism adopted to delineate the relevant market is highly subjective and aims to highlight the issues associated with delineating abuse of dominant position cases in India. The approaches to determining the relevant market used in the contemporary Competition Commission of India order illustrate the challenges associated with these tests. It aims to propose an alternative to the current approaches, to reduce the arbitrariness and disparity in the adjudication of similar matters. The paper seeks to address whether the current method(s) of identifying the relevant market in abuse of dominant position cases are effective.