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Smartphone-makers collude with Amazon, Flipkart to launch products “exclusively”
- IBJ Bureau
- Sep 15, 2024
Samsung, Xiaomi and other smartphone companies colluded with Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart to exclusively launch products on the e-commerce firms’ Indian websites in breach of antitrust laws, according to regulatory reports seen by the Reuters.
Antitrust investigations conducted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers, prioritising certain listings and steeply discounting products, hurting other companies.
The CCI’s 1,027-page report on Amazon also said that the Indian units of five companies – Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus – were “involved in the practice of exclusive” phone launches in “collusion” with Amazon and its affiliates, breaking competition law.
In Flipkart’s case, a 1,696-page CCI report said that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme conducted similar practices.
The inclusion of smartphone-makers like Samsung and Xiaomi in the case could increase their legal and compliance headaches.
“Exclusivity in business is anathema. Not only is it against free and fair competition but also against the interest of consumers,” CCI’s Additional Director General G V Siva Prasad wrote in the Amazon and Flipkart reports in identical findings.
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