CCI Toughens its Position Against Flipkart, Amazon, Requests Supreme Court to Expedite Hearing

Difficulties for big e-commerce companies Amazon and Flipkart may increase. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has requested the Supreme Court to quickly hear the petitions challenging the investigation of these companies. CCI has said that the challenges to the investigation given by Samsung, Vivo and some other companies are aimed at suppressing this investigation.

Last week, a petition was filed by CCI in the Supreme Court. filing It has been said that the challenges filed by Samsung, Vivo and some other vendors on the platforms of Amazon, Flipkart and these e-commerce companies should be heard in various High Courts, so that a decision can be taken in this matter soon. This filing has been seen by Reuters. It has not been released publicly. Amazon declined to comment on this matter. Flipkart, Samsung, Vivo and CCI did not respond to requests for comment.

The e-commerce market in the country is expected to grow to more than $160 billion by 2028. This is a big regulatory challenge for Amazon and Flipkart. The scope of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation against Amazon and Flipkart has also increased due to violations of laws related to foreign investment. These companies say that they follow the laws of the country. However, for the last few years, ED has been investigating the allegations against these companies. These companies are accused of controlling the inventory of goods through selected sellers. Under the country’s law, foreign e-commerce companies cannot hold inventory of products sold through their websites and can only act as a marketplace for sellers.

Recently ED had raided some sellers of Amazon and Flipkart. A government source having information about this had said that the documents seized in the ED raids have provided evidence that these companies have violated the law related to foreign investment. Along with analyzing the data received from these sellers, their dealings with e-commerce companies in the last few years will also be examined. Flipkart is owned by America’s largest retail company Walmart.