Do not treat our Competition Commission of India (CCI) probe similar to Amazon, urges 'Flipkart'

20th July 2021, Mumbai:

In a court filing challenging Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into its activities, Flipkart argued it should not be treated the same as rival Amazon as the evidence against the two firms was qualitatively different.

Both Amazon and Flipkart have challenged the CCI in court as they seek revocation of an Indian court's June decision to allow an antitrust probe against them to continue. The companies deny any wrongdoing.

In final submissions made to a court in Karnataka, the Walmart unit argued CCI and the court "confuse the facts" between the case of Amazon and Flipkart, and overlooked that they were "fierce competitors".

To back its arguments, Walmart said a business agreement examined by the CCI before ordering its probe was only between Amazon and its sellers, and there was no such evidence against the Walmart unit.

For years, Amazon and Flipkart have denied allegations from brick-and-mortar retailers about circumventing Indian law by creating complex business structures.

In February, a Reuters investigation based on internal Amazon documents showed the U.S. firm for years had helped a small number of sellers prosper on its platform in India, using them to bypass foreign investment laws.

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Flipkart argued in its submission that unlike in the case of Amazon, there were no structural links of any kind between Flipkart and its sellers.

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