Competition Issues: Paytm, Ola Founders, 6 Other Executives To Meet Panel

Top executives of eight domestic tech firms, including Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, will appear before a key parliamentary panel on Thursday to discuss the market behaviour of technology platforms amid rising anti-competition concerns.

BJP leader and former Union Minister Jayant Sinha-chaired Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has been looking into various aspects of competition in the marketplace, especially with respect to technology majors.

Sinha told PTI that the panel has decided to ask representatives of various technology platforms, e-commerce players and gaming entities to appear before it soon, and they will be mainly asked about their market behaviour.

Representatives of food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato, e-commerce player Flipkart, cab aggregator Ola, hotel aggregator Oyo, digital Finance firm Paytm, MakeMy Trip and All India Gaming Association, are those who have been called by the panel, Sinha said.

According to notice available on the Lok Sabha website, the committee will be hearing "views of representatives of associations/ industry stakeholders on the subject Anti-Competitive Practices by Big-tech companies" on July 21.

According to sources,  Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ola CFO Arun Kumar, Make My Trip Chairman and Chief Mentor Deep Kalra, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, Oyo founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal, have confirmed to the panel to attend the meeting.

Similarly, Swiggy's Vice President and group general Counsel Avantika Bajaj, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishna Murthy and All India Gaming Federation CEO Roland Landers will also attend the meeting, they said. In recent times, there have been complaints about alleged anti-competitive ways of various technology platforms and firms.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is already probing various cases, especially in the digital space, following complaints of alleged unfair business practices.

On April 28, the CCI made a presentation about competition aspects in the marketplace to the parliamentary panel.

After that meeting, Sinha said the panel had "an excellent set of discussions" with officials from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CCI.