Samsung, Xiaomi, 3 Others Team Up With Amazon, Flipkart: ET BrandEquity Report

Samsung, Xiaomi and other smartphone companies conspired with Amazon-owned Flipkart and Walmart to offer their products exclusively on the e-commerce companies’ Indian websites, violating antitrust laws, according to regulatory reports.

Antitrust investigations by the Competition Commission of India have found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers, prioritizing certain deals and providing deep discounts on products, which harmed other businesses.

The 1,027-page CCI report on Amazon said the Indian units of five companies — Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus — “engaged in exclusive” phone launches in “collusion” with Amazon and its subsidiaries, violating competition laws.

In the case of Flipkart, the 1,696-page CCI report states that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo and Lenovo were found to be using similar practices.

“Exclusivity in business is a curse. It is not only against free and fair competition but also against the interests of consumers,” CCI Additional Director General GV Siva Prasad wrote in the Amazon and Flipkart reports, in identical findings.

Xiaomi declined to comment, while other smartphone makers did not respond to requests for comment. Amazon and Flipkart have not commented on the reports’ findings.

Both reports said that Amazon and Flipkart “knowingly downplayed” allegations of exclusive launches during the investigation, but officials said the practice was “widespread.”

South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi are India’s two biggest smartphone players, with a combined market share of nearly 36%. India’s e-retail market is set to cross $160 billion by 2028, up from $57-60 billion in 2023, consulting firm Bain estimates.

Amazon and Flipkart have long faced ire from small retailers in India for hurting their offline businesses. CCI reports say both companies have used their foreign investments to provide subsidized rates for services such as warehousing and marketing to a select number of sellers.

The investigation into Amazon, Flipkart and their sellers was initiated in 2020 after a complaint by a subsidiary of the Confederation of All India Traders, which has 80 million members.

The CCI will consider any objections to its findings from Amazon, Flipkart, an association of retailers and smartphone companies in the coming weeks and could potentially impose financial penalties and order the companies to change their business practices, people familiar with the matter said.

Indian retailers have repeatedly accused Amazon, Flipkart and smartphone makers of exclusive phone launches online, saying store owners suffered as they were unable to buy the latest models and customers were looking for them on shopping sites.