CCI disposes of complaint by All India Online Vendors Association against Amazon

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 7, 2022

The Competition Commission of India has disposed of a complaint made by the All India Online Vendors Association against Amazon Seller Services Private Limited, which alleged anti-competitive practices.

The All India Online Vendors Association accused a group of businesses comprising Amazon Seller Services Private Limited, Amazon Wholesale India, Amazon Retail India, Cloudtail India, and Prione Business Services of engaging in unfair and anti-competitive inter-business arrangements. The organisation argued this has resulted in a lack of neutrality on Amazon’s e-commerce platform, the Press Trust of India reported. 
 
The CCI, which heard the complaints, ruled that there is insufficient evidence to form a prima facie view of the matter. The CCI, thus, chose to dismiss the case and stated that the case presented to it lacked actionable material suitable for further examination under the Competition Act.

The All India Online Vendors Association believes that numerous entities active on Amazon’s India platform are under the control of Amazon, which would violate foreign direct investment regulations for e-commerce. The association has also accused Amazon India of deep discounting through collusion with its large sellers, namely Cloudtail, which it believes is harming the revenue of Indian businesses which cannot afford to heavily discount their products. 
 
The All India Online Vendors Association represents online retailers across India. The organisation has around 2,000 online seller members.