By Cyber Era Staff
The Competition Commission has dismissed a complaint of alleged unfair business practices by popular messaging platform WhatsApp with respect to digital payments market in the country.
It was alleged that Facebook-owned WhatsApp has abused its dominance in the ‘market for internet-based messaging application through smartphones’ to manipulate another market — ‘market for UPI enabled digital payment applications’ in its favour.
In a 41-page order, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said there was no violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act. This section pertains to abuse of dominant position. To assess the complaint, the watchdog considered two relevant markets — ‘market for Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging apps through smartphones in India’ and ‘market for UPI (Unified Payment Interface) enabled Digital Payments Apps in India’.
