Samsung, Xiaomi, and Other Smartphone Manufacturers Accused of Conspiracy With Amazon, and Flipkart by CCI

Nitin Konde, Apoorva Bajj

Sep 16, 2024 — 2 min read

Samsung, Xiaomi, and Other Smartphone Manufacturers Accused of Conspiracy With Amazon, and Flipkart by CCI

According to regulatory reports that were reviewed by a media house, Samsung, Xiaomi, and other smartphone manufacturers conspired with Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart to debut goods only on the websites of the eCommerce businesses in India. This was done in violation of antitrust regulations.

Antitrust investigations carried out by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have revealed that Amazon and Flipkart have violated local competition laws by giving preference to certain sellers, prioritizing certain listings, and steeply discounting products, thereby causing harm to other businesses. This information was reported by a well-known media outlet.

How Do Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme, and Oneplus in Partnership With Flipkart and Amazon Violate the Norms?

In addition, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) stated in its 1,027-page report on Amazon that the Indian subsidiaries of five businesses, namely Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme, and OnePlus, were "involved in the practice of exclusive" phone launches in "collusion" with Amazon and its affiliates, which is a violation of competition law.

In the case of Flipkart, a report by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that was 1,696 pages long stated that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo, and Realme engaged in comparable practices.

The involvement of smartphone manufacturers like as Samsung and Xiaomi in the lawsuit may provide them with additional challenges in terms of legal and regulatory compliance.

The concept of exclusivity in the economic world is repulsive. CCI's additional director general G.V. Siva Prasad said in the Amazon and Flipkart investigations, in identical findings, that not only does it go against the principles of free and fair competition, but it also goes against the well-being of customers.

A particular media outlet noted in its special report that the CCI's reports, which are dated August 9 and are not available to the public, have accused the smartphone companies of engaging in anticompetitive behavior.

What Next?

The CCI will examine any objections to its findings from Amazon, Flipkart, the retailer association, and the smartphone companies in the coming weeks. According to individuals familiar with the matter, the organization may impose fines and require the companies to modify their business practices.

The Indian retail industry has long held that online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, as well as smartphone manufacturers, introduce new models of phones exclusively online. This has led to complaints from local businesses who claim they were unable to keep up with customer demand for new models and instead turned to online merchants.

Based on data analysis conducted by smartphone firms, both CCI reports concluded that exclusive releases had a significant impact on both online merchants and traditional brick-and-mortar stores that received mobile phones at a later period.