CCI, court ignored fact that Amazon a fierce rival: Flipkart

Flipkart should not be treated the same as rival Amazon in the anti-trust probe, given that evidence against the two was “qualitatively different”, Flipkart argued in a court filing seen by Reuters.

Both Amazon and Flipkart have challenged the Competition Commission of

India (CCI) in court, as they seek revocation of a court order in June to allow the anti-trust probe against them to continue. The companies deny any wrongdoing.

The government has called the US firms arrogant and accused them of using legal routes to stall the probe.

In their final submissions to the Karnataka High Court, Flipkart said the CCI and court had “confused the facts” between the cases of Amazon and Flipkart, and overlooked that they were “fierce competitors”. To back its arguments, it said a business agreement examined by the CCI before ordering its probe was only between Amazon and its sellers, and there was no such evidence against the Walmart unit. “The allegations and the evidence before the CCI against the Appellant were qualitatively different from those relating to Amazon... The CCI should have independently examined the case against each of the two platforms,” Flipkart said in its 46-page submission, not made public. The court is likely to pass a written order on the appeals in coming days. Flipkart and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.