Walmart-owned ecommerce marketplace Flipkart has filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court challenging an antitrust investigation into its alleged anticompetitive business practices.
The move comes days after the same court had stayed the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe following a similar plea by rival Amazon. “We are a party to the CCI order and a respondent in Amazon’s writ against the order. Given this position and the High Court stay, as a procedural matter, we are also filing a writ,” a Flipkart spokesperson said in an email.
Flipkart filed the petition on February 18, according to a report by Reuters, four days after the CCI’s order was stayed. The ecommerce company told the high court that the CCI’s order was “perverse (and) passed without any application of mind”, Reuters had reported.
The CCI had ordered a probe into the two companies on January 13 after receiving complaints from a Delhi-based offline traders’ body alleging Amazon and Flipkart were engaging in anticompetitive activities including deep discounting, preferential treatment of sellers, promotion of private labels and exclusive partnerships with phone brands.
The court on February 14 stayed the investigation after finding that the CCI did not have any evidence on record and also citing jurisdictional issues since there is an ongoing investigation into the two firms by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Flipkart may have filed a separate petition against the CCI order because respondents have limited say in a case compared to a petitioner, said Rahul Goel, partner (competition & TMT) at IndusLaw.
“From a long-term perspective, you need to have your own petition to argue your own facts,” he added.
The petitions by Amazon and Flipkart come just days ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to India. Ecommerce and India’s tightening norms around investment in the sector could be on the agenda during Trump’s visit.
Both companies have in the past raised with the US government issues related to changes in India’s foreign direct investment rules.
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