Xiaomi asks Centre to withdraw antitrust report on Walmart’s Flipkart

Xiaomi has asked the Indian antitrust regulator to withdraw the report. (Photo: Reuters)

3 minutes of reading Last update: Sep 23, 2024 | 12:22 PM IST

Chinese company Xiaomi has asked India’s antitrust watchdog to withdraw a report that found it and Walmart-owned Flipkart violated competition laws, arguing they contained trade secrets, two people familiar with the matter said.

Any revocation of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) report could delay its antitrust investigation, which began in 2021. In a rare move, the commission in August withdrew an antitrust report on Apple after the company similarly complained about the disclosure of trade secrets.

Xiaomi told the commission in its filing that the Flipkart investigation report contained confidential business data of the smartphone maker, which was allegedly redacted when the document was shared with the parties in the case, two sources familiar with the matter said.

One source says that one of the reasons Xiaomi is concerned about the Flipkart report is that it contains information about sales of individual models, and this is confidential information.

Xiaomi, Flipkart and the competition watchdog did not immediately respond to Reuters queries.

The Commission does not make its investigation reports public and they are made available only to the parties to the case. A withdrawal requires the parties to return the report, which then undergoes further redaction review.

Reuters reported this month, citing August reports on Flipkart and Amazon, that e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart were giving preference to select sellers and prioritizing certain deals, and were also partnering with companies like Xiaomi to offer phones exclusively on their websites.

Counterpoint Research data shows that South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi are the two largest smartphone makers in India, with a combined market share of almost 36 percent, while China’s Vivo has a 19 percent share.

Xiaomi is not concerned about the findings in the Amazon report, which also found that the two companies colluded on online sales in violation of antitrust laws, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.

According to the first source, the commission is expected to ask the parties to return the report and destroy all copies, which will allow the watchdog to continue redacting confidential information and making the reports available again.

The watchdog took a similar step in its Apple report, which found the US company had exploited its dominant position in the app store market on its iOS operating system. The company denies wrongdoing.

The commission’s report on Flipkart found that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme were indulging in the practice of exclusive product launches on Flipkart’s online storefront, saying it was “contrary to free and fair competition” and “prejudiced the interests of consumers”.

(Only the headline and image of the report may have been edited by the Business Standard team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)

First published: Sep 23, 2024 | 12:22 PM IST