India’s antitrust physique launched raids on Thursday in opposition to two prime home sellers of on-line retail large Amazon.com Inc over accusations of getting violated competitors legal guidelines, two sources with direct information of the matter informed Reuters.
Indian retailers, a key a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help base, have lengthy contended that Amazon’s platform largely advantages just a few huge sellers, with the agency participating in predatory pricing that harms their companies.
The firm says it complies with all Indian legal guidelines.
The precise nature of the purported violations prompting Thursday’s raids was not instantly clear. The two sellers had been Cloudtail and Appario, the sources mentioned on situation of anonymity, as the main points weren’t public.
Amazon, which has an oblique fairness stake in each, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Cloudtail, Appario and the regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), additionally didn’t instantly reply to emailed queries.
One supply mentioned the raids, carried out within the capital, New Delhi and the southern tech hub of Bengaluru, associated to CCI’s investigation ordered in January 2020.
In that case, Amazon and rival Walmart’s Flipkart face accusations of anti-competitive practices, akin to selling most well-liked sellers on web sites and giving precedence to listings by some sellers.
The corporations deny the accusations, and the antitrust investigation continues.
Amazon has beforehand mentioned it “does not give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace,” and “treats all sellers in a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner”.
A Reuters investigation final yr, primarily based on Amazon paperwork, confirmed it had given preferential remedy for years to a small group of sellers, together with Cloudtail, and used them to bypass Indian legal guidelines.
The report confirmed Amazon had for years helped a small variety of sellers prosper on its platform, with discounted charges and serving to Cloudtail strike particular offers with huge tech corporations.
The anti-trust physique informed a court docket the Reuters report corroborated proof it had acquired in opposition to Amazon.
In August, Amazon and Cloudtail determined the latter would stop to be a vendor from May 2022.
