What are India’s antitrust findings against Amazon and Flipkart

Amazon had six preferred sellers, while Flipkart had 33 who received preferential treatment on its platforms, violating antitrust laws. Sellers were given marketing, warehousing and other services at a “minimal cost.”

CCI also said that Amazon and Flipkart have leveraged their overseas investments to offer such subsidised rates.

According to CCI, both Amazon and Flipkart had an ecosystem “in which no seller other than the preferred one had a chance of survival.”

The CCI found that most of the products appearing at the top of Amazon and Flipkart’s lists were from supposedly preferred sellers. This created a barrier for other sellers, the CCI said.

Both Amazon and Flipkart have partnered with smartphone and other technology companies to offer their devices exclusively, which has disadvantaged smaller retailers.

“The exclusive launches have had a major impact not only on the regular sellers on the platform but also on the brick-and-mortar sellers who received the mobile phones much later,” the CCI reports.

Both Amazon and Flipkart allowed their affiliated and preferred sellers to offer deep discounts, which involved selling well below cost in order to eliminate competition, CCI reports said.