Xiaomi asks India to withdraw antitrust report on Walmart’s Flipkart, say sources
China’s Xiaomi has asked India’s anti-competition body to withdraw its report that found the company and Walmart’s Flipkart violated competition laws, arguing it involved commercial secrets, two people familiar with the matter said.
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China’s Xiaomi has asked India’s anti-competition body to withdraw its report that found the company and Walmart’s Flipkart violated competition laws, arguing it involved commercial secrets, two people familiar with the matter said.
The withdrawal of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) report could delay its antitrust investigation scheduled to begin in 2021. In a rare move in August, the commission withdrew an antitrust report on Apple after the company made a similar complaint that commercial secrets had been disclosed.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Xiaomi has said in its application to the commission that the investigation report on Flipkart contains sensitive business data of the smartphone company, which should have been removed at the time the documents were shared with parties concerned in the case.
One of the sources said that Xiaomi’s concern about the Flipkart report is that it contains model-wise sales details, which is sensitive information.
Xiaomi, Flipkart and the competition regulator did not immediately respond to Reuters’ questions. The commission does not make investigation reports public and they are only shared with parties to the case. The recall requires parties to return the report, after which it is further reviewed for amendments.
Reuters reported this month, citing an August report on Flipkart and Amazon, that the regulator had found that e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart gave preferential treatment to select sellers and prioritised certain listings, and colluded with companies such as Xiaomi to launch phones exclusively on their websites.
Data from Counterpoint Research shows that South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi are the two largest smartphone companies in India, with a combined market share of about 36 per cent, while China’s Vivo has a 19 per cent share.
Both sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Xiaomi was not concerned with the figures in the report on Amazon, in which investigators also said the two companies colluded in online sales in violation of anti-competition laws.
The first source said the commission wants to ask the parties to return the report and destroy copies of it, allowing the watchdog to redact sensitive information and share the report again.
The watchdog took a similar step with the Apple report, which found the US company exploited its dominant market position in the App Store on its iOS operating system. The company has denied wrongdoing.
The Commission’s Flipkart report said that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme indulged in the practice of launching exclusive products on Flipkart’s shopping website. The Commission said this is “against free and fair competition” and “against the interests of consumers”.
