CCI finds Amazon and Flipkart favouring select phone makers like Samsung and Xiaomi

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found e-market places Amazon and Flipkart to be colluding with select smartphone makes such as Samsung, Xiaomi and other major companies at the cost of other smartphone makers and thereby breaching competition laws.

Smartphone makers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme, and OnePlus sell cheaper on Amazon, with exclusive launches, while brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, vivo, Lenovo and Realme carry out similar trades on Flipkart, according to CCI.

The regulator has posted separate reports on anti-trust practices by the two online retailers, detailing the practice of selling cheaper on online stores compared with offline stores.

Flipkart, as per the CCI report, is the exclusive online seller for the Motorola Moto G45 model. This, according to CCI additional director-general GV Siva Prasad, is against fair competition and the interests of consumers.

Google is offering its Pixel 9 phones only on Flipkart.

Samsung and Xiaomi hold over a third of the smartphone market in India. Exclusive sales and steep discounts offered by these online retailers further boost sales of these smartphone makers at the cost of other companies.

Vivo, which sells the iQOO Z9 Lite smartphone on Amazon and T3 Lite on Flipkart, sells the same phones under different names on different websites, CCI pointed out.

According to CCI, big companies used foreign investments to keep prices low while offering subsidised rates for services like warehousing and marketing to a select sellers.

CCI started the investigation on a complaint filed by traders body, the Confederation of All India Traders, in 2020. 

CCI will now seek the views of the retailers and the smartphone makers before deciding on its action, which may include fines and forced change in their business practices.