Indian lawmaker, trade group seek suspension of Amazon, Flipkart after antitrust violations

NEW DELHI: A lawmaker from India’s ruling party and a key retail group on Friday urged the government to suspend the operations of Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart over antitrust violations.

Reports from an Indian antitrust investigation, which are not public, found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers and prioritizing certain listings, which hurt competition, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Praveen Khandelwal, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, told Reuters he would soon hold talks with the federal government and commerce minister Piyush Goyal to urge action, including the “immediate suspension” of e-commerce companies in India.

“The practices of these companies are causing great harm to our manufacturing sector,” he said.

Goyal’s office, Flipkart and Amazon India did not respond to requests for comment.

Both companies have previously denied any wrongdoing and said they comply with Indian regulations. They have not commented on the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reports.

Khandelwal is also the retired general secretary of the powerful Confederation of Indian Retailers, which represents some 80 million shopkeepers and has for years protested practices by Amazon and Flipkart that it says hurt smaller retailers.

The CCI’s findings follow a 2021 Reuters investigation based on internal Amazon documents that found the company had for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its platform, some of whom it called “special sellers,” and used them to circumvent Indian regulations.

Traders and retailers are seen as a key voting bloc for Modi’s ruling party and the findings of the investigation were released ahead of crucial state elections in the industrial hubs of Maharashtra and Haryana.

Last month, Commerce Minister Goyal publicly criticized Amazon, saying the company’s investments often cover its losses and the funds “are not used for any great service.”