Samsung, Xiaomi and other major smartphone companies are guilty of violating antitrust laws, according to regulatory reports. Reuters revealed that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select manufacturers, harming other companies.
Samsung Galaxy M35 is cheaper on Amazon India compared to offline stores
The CCI released a 1,027-page report on Amazon, in cahoots with Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus. All these companies had “exclusive phone launches” in violation of competition law. Similarly, in the case of Flipkart, the 1,696-page report found that Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, vivo, Lenovo and Realme had engaged in similar practices.
Another CCI director general, GV Siva Prasad, wrote that exclusivity in business is a “curse” and is against fair competition and consumer interests.
Flipkart is the exclusive online retailer of Motorola Moto G45
The main problem with these “exclusive launches” is that retailers were giving preference to big players, prioritizing certain offers and offering steep discounts, which hurt other retailers. Both Amazon and Flipkart have deliberately downplayed the allegations of exclusive launches, but officials have called the practice “rampant.”
The latest data revealed that Samsung and Xiaomi account for more than a third of the smartphone market. The CCI said the big companies relied on foreign investment to keep prices low and subsidized rates for services such as warehousing and marketing for a select number of retailers.
vivo sells the same phone under different names on different websites – iQOO Z9 Lite on Amazon, T3 Lite on Flipkart
Reuters also cited internal CCI documents from last month in which the commission ordered some smartphone companies to file financial statements for three fiscal years by 2024. The probe into Amazon, Flipkart and their sellers began in 2020 following a complaint filed by an affiliate of the country’s largest retail association, the Confederation of All India Traders, which has 80 million members.
The next step in the process is for the CCI to consider any objections. This could potentially result in fines and require companies to change their business practices.
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Smaller Indian retailers have repeatedly accused Amazon and Flipkart of introducing exclusive phone models online, hurting merchants who don’t buy the latest models and forcing customers to shop online. Research shows that 50% of all phone sales in India were online, up from 14.5% in 2013.
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