Ansuman Pattnaik, CEO of the Indian Commission for Competition (CCI), accuses the executive global technology companies of the prevention growth of Indian startups, said companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft – and now NVIDIA – are limiting the market and leaning digital ecosystems.
“Startups face problems from large digital companies. Infantry is called GAFA – Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon … and Microsoft. Now also Nvidia,” Pattnaik said at Mahakumbh’s startup in Nový Delhi.
“Because these companies are quite strong. They have rich data sources. Against them, starting businesses sometimes find growing difficulty. This is the main challenge. The main challenges are like self-service-to promote their products rather than starting products,” he said.
“They will do anti-boldings. They do not allow Startus to speak directly. They can also reduce access to the market. There are also platform neutrality problems. They do not manage a neutral way that allows startups to grow or compete here.
Pattnaik said that CCI plays a remedial role in such scenarios. Startups that believe that they have been unfairly treated can file complaints or submit information and the Commission is dealing with the matter.
Google and WhatsApp have quoted as key precedents.
Recently, the National Act of the Court of Appeal (NCLAT) confirmed CCI finding that Google had misused its dominant position in digital salaries and app trade markets. While the tribunal has reduced the fine from £936.44 crore to £216.69 Crore, ordered Google to open the ecosystem of the application alternative payment systems and refrain from discriminatory procedures against other UPI options.
The CCI also investigated the WhatsApp 2021 personal data protection principles, which ordered the sharing of user data with a parent company. In January 2025, the Tribunal remained CCI command, which would forbid WhatsApp to share user data with a meta for five years, waiting for the final notification of the Rules of Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) expected within the middle of 2025.
Despite this temporary relief for meta CCI, the company had previously fined fined £213 CRORE, decided that WhatsApp policy misused its dominant position by ordering data sharing without the user’s consent.
“Some important decisions have been made against these orders and will help startups,” Pattnaik said. “But the problem is quite complicated and sanctions can be huge – up to 10% of global turnover. Therefore, these large companies question all cases. So if startups feel that they are neglected or that proper business practices do not comply with a large company, they can file a complaint before the committee.”
(Tagstotranslate) Big Tech India
