Snehal Upadhyay-
Flipkart and Amazon are in a court conflict against the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Both Flipkart and Amazon have been accused of bypassing the foreign investment law by favouring some sellers and influencing the prices of the products.
The companies stated that they comply with all the laws.
Walmart’s Flipkart says that they see nothing wrong in offering to cut charges for sellers on its platform if they lower product prices, this was said by its lawyer in the Court with consideration to the going protest from a retailer group challenging the practice.
Flipkart’s counsel Harish Salve referring to the festival of Diwali when websites organize sales, he added: “I tell my sellers at a time like Diwali if you reduce your prices, I will give you a reduction in rent. What’s wrong?”
The comments had to take criticism from the Confederation of All India Traders, which is a party to the ongoing litigation which opposes the e-commerce giants. The party contested that the practices were prohibited under foreign direct investment (FDI) rules.
In February the Reuter’s investigation based on internal Amazon documents showed that for years the US firm has given preferential treatment to the small group of sellers, doling out discounted fees and lowering the platform fees for some to enable them to offer more competitive prices.
Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general of CAIT, which represents 80 million retail stores in the country commented “Clearly corroborate the view and complaints made by CAIT time and again. FDI policy specifically provides that the marketplace should not influence prices.”