Indian MNCs are absent from discussions on digital policy

Source: The post is based on an article “Indian MNCs are absent from discussion on digital policy” published in the Indian Express on 20^th July 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.

Relevance: Digital Economy related policies

News: In 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the draft amendment to the IT Rules 2021, the draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy, National Data Governance Framework Policy and the new cyber security directions. All these proposals have been put out for consultation. In addition to these, the government is also likely to announce the e-commerce policy and the Data Protection Bill soon.

Issues

There are those who say that India’s digital economy has been operating in a regulatory vacuum.

What are the causes behind the MEITY moves?

There has been accelerated growth of the digital ecosystem, which needs regulatory nurturing.

There has been an enormous backlash against the growing power and influence of internet giants. They do bring benefits to consumers, businesses and governments, but then they also enjoy dominant positions, engender misinformation and at the extreme, undermine democratic processes.

These platforms have developed other ways to influence the government. For example, they have upped their advocacy by hiring qualified professionals and funding empirical research, not only in India but also across the world.

Other issues

First of all, the government does not always consult businesses before announcing a new policy or regulation. But, the government has recently invited stakeholders to an open house discussion on the proposed changes to the IT Rules. But there are problems in this ongoing process:

(1) The Big Giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter etc. are all actively engaged in policy discussions, either directly or through third parties to put forth a point of view. Further, start-ups, think tanks, civil society organisations and academics invested in the issues of the digital economy either as users or as observers have also been contributing in the process of policy discourse.

(2) Indian origin multinational corporations — the Tatas, Reliance, Aditya Birla Group, Godrej, ITC, Bajaj, and Hero, who have collectively contributed to the country’s development are missing in the discussion.

(3) Many of these Indian MNCs are working towards adopting digital technologies for manufacturing, distribution, and client service. For example, many companies now have online distribution channels. Like The Tatas have entered into e-commerce, first with Tata Cliq and recently with Neu.

(4) Over the last few years there has been an overwhelming presence of the Big Tech Indian start-ups competing in this space on the active debate on critical digital policies including those on data governance, privacy, anti-trust, and intermediary liability. However, Indian MNCs have been mostly absent.

The Way Forward

Government relations and outreach functions have always been important to big businesses. For example, the government listened to the plea of the Bombay Club which resisted 1991 economic reforms.

The practice of multi-stakeholderism in policy formulation must also be adhered to in the digital economy sector.

The government should work to create an enabling, secure and trusted digital ecosystem in India.