Traders perturbed by CCI's decision to drop antitrust case against Amazon

Traders are perturbed by the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) decision of dropping the antitrust case where allegations were made against Amazon for promoting its private labels at the expense of other sellers. The CCI, recently said it has decided not to proceed with the matter at this stage.

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said in a tweet, "…Traders are extremely perturbed by this decision of @CCI_India. It is utterly shocking that Amazon is flouting norms in broad daylight but India's Anti- Trust Regulator has decided to drop this investigation. This also dilutes our faith in @DPIITGoI."

The CCI had dropped a complaint alleging the Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd and other related entities, stating that the allegations were devoid of the required evidence.

The complaint was filed by All India Online Vendors Association against Amazon Seller Services, Amazon Wholesale India, Amazon Retail India, Cloudtail India and Prione Business Services.

According to the association, which consists of over 2,000 sellers across India, anti-competitive arrangements exist among the entities, which result in alleged lack of platform neutrality on amazon.in.

CAIT had alleged that the entities' conduct fell under vertical restraint and had levelled allegations of "deep discounting" and "lack of platform neutrality" on the entities. It added that Amazon Wholesale, in collusion with Amazon Retail and Cloudtail India sold goods at huge discounts, rendering independent sellers unable to compete on the platform.

CCI said that sufficient material did not exist to form a prima facie view in the matter.

"The Information contains allegations that are devoid of admissible/requisite evidence," it said. Thus, the Information filed lacks actionable material for further examination under the Competition Act, it added.