CAIT approaches CCI against Flipkart, Amazon for anti-competitive
practices
Confederation
of All India Traders (CAIT), the industry body for retail traders, has written
to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) seeking the urgent resolution of
the longstanding Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh case involving alleged anti-competitive
practices of Flipkart and Amazon.
Passage
of every month would mean allowing the anti-competitive practices to the tune
of Rs 25,000 crore by Flipkart and Amazon and a corresponding loss of
livelihood of retailers and small traders, wrote Praveen Khandelwal, National
General Secretary, CAIT, in a letter to the CCI.
Delhi
Vyapar Mahasangh had, in November 2019, filed a case against Flipkart and
Amazon, alleging that they are indulging in serious anti-competitive practices
that led to the closure of business of lakhs of its members who used to earn
their livelihood through retail business.
These
foreign entities (Flipkart and Amazon) have indulged in monopolisation of sales
of mobile phones through exclusive launch. Some entities/sellers were created
just for the purpose of invoicing with the sole aim to sell the inventory of
Flipkart/Amazon in the name of such entities/sellers, read the CAIT letter.
The
industry body alleged that almost all sales on the aforementioned e-commerce
platforms are carried out by their own sellers, and the millions of other
sellers registered on their platforms are just to show that they are operating
an e-commerce marketplace.
The
letter further claimed that Amazon and Flipkart could stall the investigation
for more than 20 months by filing frivolous litigations and requested the
competition watchdog to take prompt action.
www.business-standard.com dt. 12.02.2024