Antitrust Case: CCI Seeks Financial Statements From Flipkart & Amazon To Decide Penalty

In the latest setback to ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon in a country where they continue to face criticism for their business practices, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sought turnover details from the duo to determine the penalty.

India’s antitrust watchdog has asked Flipkart and Amazon to share their financial statements, with the amount of fine set to be determined after the CCI’s hearing of the two companies in the four-year long case, Mint reported, citing sources.

Flipkart and Amazon are facing a penalty of up to 10% of their global annual turnover or income, the report added, citing the 2023 amendment to the competition law.

This comes just days after an Indian antitrust investigation found Amazon and Flipkart guilty of violating the country’s competition laws by giving preference to select sellers on their shopping websites.

In separate reports on Amazon and Flipkart, the CCI discovered a lack of level-playing field where the two companies promoted certain sellers with which they had business arrangements and gave priority to certain listings, elbowing out other sellers.

In August, union minister Piyush Goyal had also slammed Amazon over alleged “predatory pricing policies,” and questioned whether the exponential growth of ecommerce firms in the country is a “matter of concern” or a reason to celebrate.

Amazon and Flipkart are not the only foreign companies that have come under scrutiny for their business practices in India. A CCI probe into tech giant Apple reportedly found that the iPhone maker abused its dominant position in the app store market. 

The CCI’s report accused Apple of imposing unfair trade practices on developers. However, the report was later recalled after Apple expressed concern that CCI disclosed confidential company data to its competitors.

Alphabet-owned Google is also facing allegations of engaging in anti-competitive practices in the Indian online advertising market. 

While the high-flying big tech firms were able to operate with relative independence in India’s digital market so far, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has come up with the draft digital competition bill to crack down on their alleged anti-competitive practices.

The draft bill aims to regulate major entities based on their turnover, gross merchandise value, global market capitalisation, user numbers, and other factors. 

The rapid growth of quick commerce firms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart has also raised eyebrows on issues ranging from predatory pricing to deep discounting tactics.