Supreme Court Ordered Investigation Against Amazon And Flipkart For Promoting Only A Small Group Of Sellers

Supreme Court of India has ordered antitrust investigations against Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart. These two leading e-commerce giants have already urged the judges to quash the inquiries. Last year the Competition Commission of India has ordered the investigation against the companies for promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and developing business practices that stifle competition.

The companies have also denied any wrongdoing and challenged the Supreme Court by forging a case in the lower court by stating that the Competition Commission of India does not have enough evidence against them to act upon this matter. But a three-judge Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana has also declared that these giant companies should volunteer for such investigations.

As Amazon and Flipkart are the leading players in the e-retail market in India and the combined net worth of these two companies will reach up to $200 billion by 2026. But if these companies don’t cooperate with this investigation, then this can happen to be a major setback for both companies.

The case was lodged by a trader group named Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh. The charges against these companies are the exclusive launches of mobile phones, promotion of select sellers on their websites and deep discounting practices to win the competition in the market. As these two companies have requested the Supreme Court to pause this investigation, Supreme Court has also asked a total of 32 questions which includes information about details of top 100 sellers and top-selling products. The two companies have also replied that such questions are a matter of “sensitive” business information. But the court has also given one more month to the companies to answer those questions.

But also, according to an external investigation based on Amazon documents, it can be said that Amazon has given preferential treatment for years only to a small group of sellers.