Competition Commission of India: An Indian antitrust investigation has found that US e-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preferential treatment to certain sellers on their shopping sites.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an investigation against Amazon and Flipkart in 2020 for allegedly promoting and prioritizing certain lists of certain sellers with whom they had business agreements.
In a 1,027-page report on Amazon and a separate 1,696-page report on Flipkart on August 9, researcher CCI said the two companies have created an ecosystem where preferred sellers appear higher in the results of search, leaving others.
Each of the alleged anticompetitive practices was investigated and found to be true,” said the two reports, which are not public and were first reported by Reuters.
“Ordinary vendors have become mere database entries,” both reports said in similar conclusions about the two companies. Amazon and Flipkart, as well as CCI, did not immediately respond to questions.
They previously denied any wrongdoing and said their practices complied with Indian laws.
The two companies will now review the report and submit any objections before ICC staff decide on possible sanctions.
Secret deals were made with Amazon and Flipkart
According to a report, the Competition Commission of India said that our investigation revealed that several companies such as Samsung and Xiaomi have signed secret agreements with Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart. Amazon and Flipkart only launch the products of these companies. Give priority only to these companies. Other companies are hurt by their lists and discounts.
All these companies are accused of violating competition law
The CCI said in its 1,027-page report that Amazon launched only Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, Motorola and OnePlus phones. They have violated the competition law. Meanwhile, a 1,696-page report on Flipkart says it violated the law by entering into similar agreements with Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme. These allegations against Samsung and Xiaomi are serious and could add to their problems.