By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s antitrust body has asked the Supreme Court to hear legal objections to an investigation into Amazon and Walmart’s e-commerce platforms Flipkart, saying those objections filed by Samsung, Vivo and others in Indian high courts are intended were to sink the probe.
In a December 3 filing reviewed by Reuters and not released publicly, India’s Competition Commission asked the court to hear 23 lawsuits filed by Samsung, Vivo and several suppliers on the Amazon and Flipkart platforms to potentially settle the case. to make. be decided quickly.
Amazon declined to comment, while Flipkart, Samsung, Vivo and the Competition Commission did not respond to requests for comment.
The investigation poses a major regulatory challenge for Amazon and Flipkart in a market where e-commerce sales are expected to surpass $160 billion by 2028, rising from $57 billion to $60 billion by 2023.
The commission’s investigative unit concluded in August that Amazon and Flipkart had violated Indian antitrust laws by favoring select sellers on their websites. It also found that smartphone companies such as Samsung and Vivo violated these laws by collaborating with the two e-commerce companies to launch products exclusively online.
Since the findings, nearly 20 lawsuits have been filed in five Indian high courts by a number of Amazon and Flipkart suppliers, as well as Samsung and Vivo, seeking to block the investigation as they seek to “weaken and scuttle” the process, the report said. committee. .
The separate lawsuits, if allowed, “will lead to absurdity as they will hamper the flexibility of the director general (of the commission) to conduct investigations into any matter.”
Amazon and Flipkart have been criticized for years by smaller retailers for their business practices, saying they have suffered from the deep discounts and preferential treatment offered by the platforms.
Amazon and Flipkart deny any wrongdoing.
A 2021 Reuters investigation based on internal Amazon documents found that for years the company gave preferential treatment to a small group of sellers and used it to circumvent Indian laws.
The current committee investigation began in 2020, but has been significantly delayed.
Most of the 23 lawsuits filed across India in the latest challenge to the case accuse the commission of failing to follow due process in its investigation.
The commission’s request to transfer the 23 cases to the Supreme Court is likely to be heard this week, according to a lawyer familiar with the proceedings.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Nicholas Yong and Edmund Klamann)
