Flipkart Sellers Sue CCI, Demand Halt on Anti-Trust Probe Against Amazon and Flipkart

In a recent turn of events, three sellers of Flipkart have sued the Competition Commission of India (CCI) with regards to the ongoing probe going on by the watchdog against Amazon and Flipkart. 

The probe, which started in 2020, claims that both the e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon practiced anti-competitive practices such as giving preference to select sellers, treating ordinary sellers as mere data bases, and more. 

This was first reported by Reuters. The three sellers—CIGFIL Retail, Wishery Online, and Xonique Ventures—filed the lawsuit in the Karnataka High Court and insisted that the investigation report that has been released by the CCI should be put on hold. The sellers have also reportedly highlighted that the entire investigation process by the CCI should be paused for now. 

The sellers have also highlighted that while they were asked to submit relevant data to help in the investigation, they were later mentioned as accused in the ongoing probe. 

In three separate court filings, the sellers reportedly mentioned, “The alleged investigation... is arbitrary, opaque, and unfair.” The hearing for the same might happen next week. 

Read: Former Amazon Seller Sues CCI: Will It Affect Ongoing Antitrust Investigation Against the US Giant?

Former Amazon seller Sues CCI 

Interestingly, this comes at a time when a former Amazon seller already sued the CCI with regards to the ongoing investigation. The seller, Appario Retail, also mentioned that the probe by CCI must be set aside. 

At the time of this development, experts indicated that this development holds significance as this was the first major challenge that was happening against the ongoing CCI probe against Flipkart and Amazon. Speaking to Outlook Business earlier, Natasha Treasurywala, Partner, Desai & Diwanji, said, “The seller that has challenged the CCI probe was originally a joint venture between Amazon and its Indian partner. Therefore, the genesis of this particular lawsuit may be a bit skewed. If, however, other sellers come forward as well, this will certainly put some pressure on the CCI.” 

Now that other sellers have also joined hands against the CCI, there is a probability that the outcome of the case will be delayed. The anti-trust probe that started in 2020 already faced several delays due to appeals by Flipkart and Amazon to overturn it. However, eventually, the CCI went ahead with its investigation and, among other things, found out that in violation of the competition law, both Flipkart and Amazon entered into exclusive agreements with smartphone companies such as Xiaomi and Samsung.