On Monday the Supreme Court pulled up Amazon and Flipkart for trying to stall investigations ordered in 2020 by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday welcomed a Supreme Court decision that Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart should face investigations into alleged anti-competitive behaviour, saying their trading practices would be looked into.
The comments from the Commerce Minister are the latest signs of New Delhi’s discontent with the two US e-commerce giants, which have faced allegations of bypassing laws to run their businesses and hurting smaller retailers for years.
The Supreme Court on Monday, pulled up Amazon and Flipkart for trying to stall investigations ordered in 2020 by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), saying big organisations like theirs should volunteer to assist in any inquiry.
Piyush Goyal welcomed the court’s decision while speaking in the Parliament, where he called on the “Quit India” campaign – a movement launched in 1942 by Mahatma Gandhi demanding an end to British rule.
“These companies used legal tactics to stall the investigation, I am happy to tell you that yesterday, on the day of the Quit India Movement, all the efforts of these companies failed,” Mr Goyal said.
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“The top court decided that CCI should probe the allegations of fraudulent, unfair trade practices that they engage in,” Mr Goyal added.
Meanwhile, Amazon and Flipkart did not respond to a request for comment.
In February, a Reuters investigation based on Amazon documents showed it had given preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers. However, Amazon denied doing anything wrong.
Mr Goyal told MPs that, “The big e-commerce firms were supposed to operate a marketplace website that connects buyers and sellers, but it was found that they continuously used various legal tactics that hurt small businesses.”
“The government has taken stern steps,” he added.
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