Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Antitrust Proceedings Initiated Against E-Commerce Giants Flipkart And Amazon

The Hon'ble Supreme Court on 9 August 2021 passed an order refusing to interfere with the judgment of the High Court of Karnataka (High Court) allowing the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to initiate a probe against e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon. The present article briefly evaluates the timeline of proceedings and the judgment of the High Court which was approved by the Apex Court.

Brief Facts

The Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVP) is a society of traders comprising of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises who dealt with smartphones and other accessories. DVP filed an information on 24 October 2019 before the CCI under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) against Flipkart and Amazon (together referred to as Companies). DVP alleged through its information that the Companies were involved in alleged anti-competitive practices and conduct, such as deep discounting, preferential listing, sale of private label brands through