Platform Lock-in and the Ownership-Access Transition: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Perceptions in the Indian Digital Economy

Karan Ganesh Shetty , Prof. Anandsingh Rajawat

Techno-feudalism, platform capitalism, subscription economy, digital ownership, cloud capital, consumer behaviour, Digital Competition Bill India, digital fatigue.

The global digital economy is undergoing a structural transformation in which consumers are progressively transitioning from ownership rights to perpetual licensees paying recurring rents for digital goods and services. This paper explores the "Techno-Feudalism" framework advanced by Yanis Varoufakis, contrasting it against the "Platform Capitalism" counter-narrative, to examine how digital platforms in India extract cloud rent from consumers and businesses through algorithmically governed ecosystems. Employing a mixed-methods design combining secondary data analysis of global subscription economy trends with an exploratory pilot survey of urban Indian digital consumers (n=100), the study investigates the economic drivers compelling the transition from ownership to subscription models, the theoretical validity of digital rentier frameworks, and the psychological impact of subscription proliferation. Key findings reveal that 86% of the primarily urban, Gen-Z respondents prefer perpetual ownership over subscription access, yet 86% currently pay for at least one subscription service. This reflects a structural preference-reality dissonance driven by ecosystem lock-in, choice architecture, and the systematic elimination of buy-once alternatives. Platform entrapment is widespread, with 86% of respondents feeling trapped within digital ecosystems, and the average perceived ownership score standing at only 2.43 out of 5. The paper situates these findings within the theoretical debates between Technofeudalism and late-stage capitalism, while examining India's stalled Digital Competition Bill 2024 and institutional capacity constraints at the Competition Commission of India as of early 2026. The research concludes that without robust ex-ante legislative intervention and institutional capacity building, the Indian digital economy risks consolidating into a rentier system structurally constraining consumer economic agency.

Volume 14 Issue 5, May-2026

Pages : e835-e843