US e-commerce behemoth Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart were found to have broken local competition laws by favouring certain sellers on their shopping websites, according to an Indian antitrust inquiry.
Amazon and Flipkart were the subject of a probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2020 over allegations that they had given preference to some listings and promoted vendors with whom they had business arrangements.
The CCI investigators said that they had discovered that Amazon and Flipkart had established an environment in which recommended vendors were able to outcompete other sellers by showing up higher in search results. The reports were 1,696 pages long for Flipkart and 1027 pages long for Amazon.
In their identical conclusions about both companies, the two reports stated that “Ordinary sellers remained as mere database entries.”
The CCI, Amazon, and Flipkart did not answer questions right away. They have always maintained that their actions comply with Indian law and denied any illegality. Before CCI employees choose whether to impose any fines, the two corporations will now examine the report and submit any objections.
The results of the probe represent the most recent blow to Amazon and Flipkart in a nation where smaller merchants have been criticising them for their business methods and claiming that deep discounts offered online have hurt their bottom lines in recent years.
An affiliate of the largest trade association in the nation, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents 80 million shops, filed a complaint, which set off the probe.
Leading companies in India’s e-retail business are Amazon and Flipkart. According to consulting company Bain, the market would be valued between US $ 57 and US $ 60 billion in 2023 and over US $ 160 billion by 2028.