The industry which has been hitherto marked by efficiency may harm its consumers.

Introduction

India recently hosted the AI Impact Summit, 2026. The Summit drew inspiration from the UK, Seoul and France AI Summits and put India at the centre stage of global AI governance. The sessions were held under seven working groups spanning from human capital to inclusion for social development to democratising AI resources and hosted the world technology leaders. The Information Technology (IT) sector has been one of the major takers of AI with use cases across the supply chain.

Overview of the IT Industry

One of the major chunks of the IT services is MES, SCADA and historian software. This line of software allows the companies in tasks such as tracking, monitoring and automation to enhance manufacturing performance. One key advantage is also that it supports regulatory compliance through automated data collection and historical record keeping.

The IT industry, historically, has been driven by free market thought. The suppliers are free to sell their services directly to the consumers who can negotiate the price. The consumers could also place customised requests and avail the services. In fact, the industry is highly driven by such customisable services thereby allowing service providers to provide a bouquet of services and allowing multiple options to the consumers.

Competition aspects

It is in this backdrop a competition assessment ought to be conducted. For instance, a recent case before the CCI mentioned restrictive business practices of AVEVA. The applicant in its information submitted that the company engages in bundling where it combines various segments of manufacturing IT solutions which would have been otherwise procured by the companies on an independent basis. The Informant further submitted that the company, on one hand, leverages its position by pushing the costlier flex subscription in the market and, at the same time, provides a certain set of services free.

Tying and bundling is a classic form of violation of competition law. The European Union (EU) recently enacted the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in which one of the core obligations is to put a ban on bundling and tying. India is also planning a similar law on the lines of the DMA where dominant companies would be barred from tying multiple lines of products given their anti-competitive nature. All of this prohibited bundling and tying was mandatory in nature thereby setting aside arguments related to economic efficiency, consumer choice and autonomy at bay.

Conclusion

Even though the CCI took a liberal view in the matter, conventional forms of anti-competitive conduct may equally be detrimental in the IT sector. The need of the hour is for the CCI to conduct a neutral market-study of the industry and ensure fair play in the sector. This aspect is important as India is currently focusing on the Make-in-India campaign and any reliance on foreign players should be kept in check. Such a market study would further allow assessment of third-party responses which could provide a 360 degree view of the contended practices.