SC Refuses to Stop CCI Probe Against Amazon & Flipkart

Abench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Vineet Saan and Surya Kant dismissed the petition challenging CCI probe.

(Photo:IANS)

The Supreme Court on Monday, 9 August, refused to stop the enquiry ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into the alleged anti-trust practices of e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon.

According to a report by Livelaw, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Vineet Saan and Surya Kant dismissed the petition challenging CCI probe.

Earlier, Karnataka High Court had also refused to interfere with the preliminary enquiry ordered by the CCI. The bench said that the CCI enquiry must go on.

Meanwhile, the bench has accepted the request of e-commerce giants for extending the time to reply to CCI. "We see no reason to interfere in order. Seeing that time granted is expiring on 9 August, we extend it by 4 weeks", the bench was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

Why Did CCI Order Probe?

In 2020, CCI had pointed out: “These platforms (Flipkart and Amazon) are capable of influencing prices being charged by sellers by providing several discounts as well as inventory to the sellers.”

The antitrust body had picked up elements like deep discounting, exclusive brand tie-ups, preferential listing and market duopoly as the reasons for considering a thorough investigation of business practices of both the online sellers.

CCI also alleged that e-commerce players can “gather data on consumer preferences and allegedly use them to their advantage".

By using terms like "Assured seller" and "Fulfilled" for sellers, Flipkart and Amazon respectively list their products on the first page, which is where usually people buy most of their products from. This means the non-preferred partners get left out.

Also, CCI said that the exclusive tie-ups with brands, especially smartphone brands on which these players tend to offer discounts, are preferential listings.