Most Indians interact with digital markets shaped by sprawling digital ecosystems. These ecosystems, comprising infrastructure, data, software, and consumer-facing services, have not evolved organically; rather, they are strategically curated by dominant orchestrators. By controlling foundational layers such as operating systems, app stores and data flows, these firms shape how value flows across markets.

The presence of multiple such ecosystems may suggest competition, but this is often an illusion. These firms adopt similar exclusionary strategies, such as bundling core services with adjacent ones, controlling access to critical data flows, and limiting interoperability to lock users in. These dynamics are creating markets that are neither neutral nor contestable. As digital markets shift from competition to ecosystem control, a question arises: Can the state redesign these markets through institutional architecture rather than regulate them ex post?

India’s embrace of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) presents such a........

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