CCI Finds Samsung, Xiaomi Flouted Rules For Exclusive Launches On Amazon & Flipkart

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accused Samsung, Xiaomi and other smartphone makers of collaborating with Amazon and Flipkart to exclusively roll out their products on these ecommerce platforms’ Indian sites in breach of antitrust laws.

As per an antitrust report seen by Reuters, a recent probe carried out by the CCI found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers, prioritising certain listings and steeply discounting products, hurting other companies.

The CCI’s 1,027-page report on Amazon also said the Indian units of five companies – Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus – were “involved in the practice of exclusive” phone launches in “collusion” with Amazon and its affiliates, breaking competition law.

In Flipkart’s case, a 1,696-page CCI report said the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme conducted similar practices.

“Exclusivity in business is anathema. Not only is it against free and fair competition but also against the interest of consumers,” CCI’s additional director general G V Siva Prasad wrote in the Amazon and Flipkart reports, in identical findings.

While the investigation started in 2020 after a complaint by a Delhi-based traders association, Amazon and Flipkart tried to delay the same by filing several appeals. Eventually, the Supreme Court of India rejected the appeals of both Amazon and Flipkart on August 9, 2021. Following this, the CCI continued with its probe.

This comes two days after it was reported that the CCI has found Amazon and Flipkart guilty of violating competition laws. As per two separate internal antitrust reports seen by Reuters, the competition watchdog found that both Amazon India and Flipkart flouted antitrust guidelines by giving preference to select sellers on their platforms. 

The report comes close on the heels of union commerce minister Piyush Goyal lashing out at Amazon India over “predatory pricing policies” last month. Noting that the ecommerce major’s plans to invest billions of dollars in India were only to offset its losses, Goyal said that the funds were not “coming for any great service”.

However, right afterwards, he clarified that the government is not against online marketplaces but wants them to operate fairly.

With this, Amazon India and Flipkart have become the latest companies to come under the radar of antitrust authorities. While Google has had to pay hefty fines and undertake sweeping changes to its India operations in response to CCI’s crackdown, Apple too has been pulled up by authorities for abusing its dominance in the app marketplace segment.