Google India Investigation Report Only A Beginning, Say CCI Chief

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said its investigation arm has submitted the report on the alleged anti-competitive practices of internet major Google, and the regulator is awaiting comments on it from concerned parties.

“The case has been going on for sometime. The investigator (director general) has given the report,” CCI chairman Ashok Chawla said.

His remarks came in response to a query about the status of the Google case.

As per the process followed under the Competition Act as in other cases, “the investigator’s report in a sense is only a beginning,” he said at an interaction with journalists at the Indian Women Press Corps.

Referring to the normal procedures followed in the cases, Chawla said the investigation report has been sent out to parties on both sides and they have to now give their comments.

The CCI refers cases for detailed probe to its investigation arm director general.

The DG report is believed to contain comments and inputs from a host of entities present in the internet business, including some well-known e-commerce firms and web portals.

While submissions from some of them appear to suggest violations on part of Google, others have sided with the US-based global giant.

“We are currently reviewing this report from the CCI’s ongoing investigation. We continue to work closely with the CCI and remain confident that we comply fully with India’s competition laws,” a Google spokesperson had said in August.

Meanwhile, Google has demanded access to certain documents held back by the watchdog to prepare a “thorough response” and is believed to have sought more time to make its submissions.

“As we continue to review this report, we have requested that the CCI provide access to documents and other information referred to in the report but not provided to us, to allow us to prepare a thorough response,” the company’s spokesperson said earlier this month.

The CCI, which first received a complaint against Google back in 2011, has been looking into allegations that the company abused its dominant position in the search engine space for well over three years.