After Apple, Why Xiaomi Probably Asked CCI to Withdraw Report on Flipkart

Xiaomi has reportedly asked the country’s antitrust watchdog to withdraw a report, saying it contained confidential business data from the smartphone maker. The report accused the Chinese tech company and Walmart-owned Flipkart of violating competition laws.
The Reuters news agency, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that Xiaomi had sent a formal request to Competition Commission of India (CCI), noting that the investigation report in the Flipkart case contains confidential business data about the smartphone maker, including sales data of individual models, which should have been redacted when the document was made available to the parties in the case.
The move could potentially delay an ongoing antitrust investigation into the companies that was initiated in 2021. The CCI had previously recalled a similar report involving Apple after the company raised concerns about the disclosure of trade secrets.
CCI investigation reports are confidential and shared only with parties involved in the case. When a retraction is requested, all parties must return the report, which is then subjected to additional scrutiny for potential redactions, the report noted.
What the CCI investigation found against Xiaomi
Earlier this month, the CCI cited a report by Flipkart and Amazon to find that e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart were favoring certain sellers and deals. The report further alleged that these retailers were working with companies like Xiaomi to launch phones exclusively on their platforms.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is one of the two largest players in the Indian smartphone market, while other Chinese smartphone makers like Vivo have 19% market share, which is less than Xiaomi.

Why Xiaomi is concerned about Flipkart’s report

The report claims that Xiaomi is not concerned about the data in the Amazon report, which also alleges collusion between Amazon and Xiaomi. The company’s main concern is solely the Flipkart report.
Xiaomi has asked the commission to order all parties to return the report to Flipkart and destroy all copies, which will allow the watchdog to redact the confidential information and re-issue a revised report.
The CCI report on Flipkart highlighted that the Indian units of Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme were indulging in the practice of exclusively launching products on the Flipkart platform. The report criticized this practice as being detrimental to free and fair competition and harmful to the interests of consumers.
The antitrust watchdog also recalled a similar report on Apple that found the US tech giant had abused its dominant market position in the iOS app store. The iPhone maker, however, denied the accusations.