What the IndiGo fiasco tells us: The role played by the state is being taken over by mega corporations

Under India’s new economic order, consumption has become a dependency, mediated—beyond choice—by ownership of infrastructure. Last week, at Mumbai airport, I saw IndiGo’s embattled yet intact front-line. Yet, real authority was up in some cloud that no individual seemed able to override.A generation ago, you were courted by multiple companies vying for your money.

Today, you sit within an ecosystem where opting out is costly, inconvenient and often practically impossible. Be it insurance renewals, broadband service packs or credit card rewards, you are trapped. Legalese aside, the choices on offer are hardly volitional.

It happens when scale, technology and capital converge faster than regulation. In India, the social implications feel more acute because the private sector is running systems once expected of the state. Telecom coverage, digital-payment rails, data distribution, identity-linked credit and logistics networks are all public goods.

They offer extraordinary convenience but lock citizens into corporate interfaces that resemble those of a passport office more than a marketplace. When switching costs turn prohibitive, loyalty is indistinguishable from captivity. An exit is not a right but a loss.

You can raise your voice or plead, but the system need not listen. An uneasy question then arises. Has private-sector ascendancy left Indian consumers weak? We are witnessing a new form of dependence.

It does not stem from scarcity, as it once did, but from abundance delivered through a single gatekeeper.Competition exists, but substitutability does not. Consumers no longer choose between providers but adopt bundled lives across telecom, media content, shopping, travel and payments. Leaving involves too much friction.