On 9 August 2021, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India
(Supreme Court) allowed the Competition Commission of
India (CCI) to proceed with its investigation into alleged
anti-competitive practices by Amazon Seller Services Private
Limited (Amazon) and Flipkart Internet Private Limited
(Flipkart) (collectively
“OPs”).
Litigation History
On 24 October 2019, the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh filed an
information, alleging violations under the vertical restraints and
abuse of dominance provisions (i.e. Section 3(4) and Section 4,
respectively) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) by the
OPs by engaging in practices such as deep discounting, exclusive
tie-ups, preferential listing, and promotion of private
labels.1 The CCI while rejecting arguments on joint
dominance by the OPs under Section 4 of the Act, sustained a
prima facie case under Section 3(4) of the Act by
preliminarily upholding market power attributable to each of the
OPs individually.