The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Monday said it had approached fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a detailed probe against Zomato and Swiggy, alleging “anti-competitive practices” by the food-ordering platforms.  

Keeping the interest of restaurants in mind and how they have been affected by the “inherently anti-competitive practices” of Zomato and Swiggy, the NRAI on July 1 filed information with the CCI, the NRAI said in a statement. 

Issues such as bundling of services, data masking and exorbitant commissions charged, deep discounting, violation of platform neutrality and a lack of transparency had been flagged in the submission, it added. 

“We have been in constant dialogue with the food-service aggregators over last 15-18 months to resolve critical issues impacting the sector. However, despite all our efforts, we have unfortunately not been able to resolve them with the aggregators. The needle hasn’t moved much on these issues,” NRAI President Anurag Katriar said. 

NRAI had therefore approached the CCI now to look into the matter and investigate them thoroughly, he added. 

“We are committed to the cause of our partners, and we will put our best efforts with the CCI to ensure that the practices of these marketplace platforms are aligned to the benefit of the entire F&B (food and beverage) industry,” Mr Katriar said. 

E-mails sent to Zomato and Swiggy seeking comments on the matter did not elicit any immediate response.