A few days back, I published an application that is equipped with the capability to look into the details of all past auctions in India (round by round) since 2010. The app renders its output as user-friendly charts — unlocking the story in depth, which otherwise is impossible to perceive by just looking at the raw data. The key benefit of anchoring this data in a menu-driven application is that it gives the readers the opportunity to experience the bidding process firsthand and see for themselves how it all happened— some bidders were totally reckless, and others played the game with the intention of imposing more cost on their opponents. Unfortunately for us, the regulators stood helpless, as their hands were tied to their backs. Why? The culprit was the adverse public perception of “causing harm to the exchequer” caused by the 2G Scam. The purpose of this note is to discuss these facts in sequence so as to enable the users to navigate through the data embedded in the app and see for themselves how auctions in India inadvertently contributed towards more costs on some selected few and played a decisive role towards limiting competition by raising the barrier to market entry. But before I begin this story, a word of caution! This note will get longer than usual, as without that flexibility, it will not be possible for me to do justice to such a complex and difficult topic. So please bear with me.
2010 — 3G Auctions
The distortion that took place during the 3G auction is clearly visible in the chart embedded in the app (reproduced below).
