Xiaomi urges CCI to withdraw antitrust report on Walmart-owned Flipkart over confidential data concerns

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has asked India’s antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), to withdraw a report that found Xiaomi and Walmart-owned Flipkart guilty of violating competition laws. According to a Reuters report, the company says the report contains confidential commercial information that was allegedly hidden, two anonymous sources told Reuters.

The antitrust investigation began in 2021, and the report was recently made available to the parties involved. Xiaomi says the report contains confidential business details, such as sales data by model, that it believes should be redacted. Xiaomi is concerned that this confidential information could be misused if not properly secured.

If the CCI agrees to withdraw the report, it could slow down the investigation. The watchdog took a similar step in August when Apple raised concerns that its confidential business data had been included in an antitrust report into its app store practices.

The CCI’s investigation into Flipkart and Amazon revealed that the e-commerce platforms favoured particular sellers and made deals with companies like Xiaomi to stock exclusive products on their websites, a practice the CCI said hurt competition and consumers.

Interestingly, Xiaomi has no objections to the data in the Amazon report, despite similar allegations of collusion. The company is mainly focused on the Flipkart report and wants the CCI to withdraw the report, redact confidential data and then reissue it to all parties.

Xiaomi and Samsung are among the largest smartphone brands in India, controlling about 36% of the market combined, followed by Vivo with 19%. The findings of this investigation could have implications for their sales strategies, especially with regard to exclusive online product launches.