Samsung, Xiaomi and other major smartphone companies are guilty of violating antitrust laws, according to regulatory reports. Reuters revealed that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select manufacturers, causing harm to other companies.
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The CCI posted a 1,027-page report on Amazon colluding with Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus to “launch exclusive phones” in violation of competition laws. The same is the case with Flipkart, where the 1,696-page report states that Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme have also committed similar acts.
CCI Additional Director General G.V. Siva Prasad wrote that exclusivity in business is a “curse” and is against fair competition and the interests of consumers.
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The main issue with these “exclusive launches” is that retailers offered preference to big players, priority to certain listings, and heavy discounts, causing other retailers to suffer. Both Amazon and Flipkart deliberately downplayed the allegations of exclusive launches, but officials found the practice to be “widespread”.
Recent data showed that Samsung and Xiaomi hold more than a third of the smartphone market. The CCI pointed out that the big companies rely on foreign investment to keep prices low and provide services such as warehousing and marketing at concessional rates to select vendors.
Vivo sells the same phone under different names on different websites – iQOO Z9 Lite on Amazon, T3 Lite on Flipkart
Reuters also cited internal CCI documents from last month in which the commission ordered some smartphone companies to submit their financial statements for three fiscal years up to 2024. The investigation into Amazon, Flipkart and their sellers began in 2020 following a complaint by an affiliate of the country’s largest retailer association, the Confederation of All India Traders, which has 80 million members.
The next step in the process is for the CCI to review any objections. This can then lead to fines being imposed and companies being forced to change their business practices.
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Small Indian retailers have repeatedly accused Amazon and Flipkart of launching exclusive phone models online, hurting offline shoppers who do not get the latest models and forcing customers to buy them online. According to research data, 50% of all phone sales in India were online, up from 14.5% in 2013.