Competition, Amazon also under indictment in India
The e-commerce giant and its main local competitor allegedly colluded with phone bigwigs such as Samsung and Xiaomi
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From our correspondent
NEW DELHI - Indian antitrust authorities have accused Amazon and Flipkart, its main local competitor, of violating competition rules. This was exclusively reported by the Reuters news agency.
In two reports - one over 1,000 pages long, the other almost 1.700 - theCompetition Commission of India (CCI) charges the two online sales giants with several prohibited practices: excessive discounts to harm competitors; preferential treatment for certain sellers and 'collusion' with brands such as Samsung, Motorola, Realme, OnePlus and Xiaomi in the case of Amazon and Samsung, Motorola, Realme, Vivo and Lenovo in the case of Flipkart. All the companies involved risk fines.
Consumer electronics brands have come under indictment because of the launch strategies of their new mobile phone models, which typically in India for a certain period of time can only be purchased as exclusives on the two indicted sites. "The concept of exclusivity", explains a senior antitrust official, "goes against free competition and against the interests of consumers".
The allegation of preferential treatment instead refers to the fact that most of the sellers appearing in prominent positions on Amazon and Flipkart would have a privileged relationship with the two platforms with the effect of creating a barrier to competition. According to the two reports, Amazon would have six of these sellers and Flipkart, which is controlled by the American retail giant Walmart, as many as 33.
