Probe into e-com firms stalled after Amazon challenge

NEW DELHI: A Bengaluru court on Friday put on hold an antitrust investigation into leading e-commerce companies following a challenge by Amazon.com Inc, two lawyers involved in the proceedings told Reuters on Friday.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) last month ordered a probe into Amazon and rival Walmart’s Flipkart over alleged violations of competition law and certain discounting practices. Amazon this week challenged the investigation in a court in Bengaluru city. The court on Friday granted a stay on the investigation for two months, according to a lawyer from Indian law firm P&A Law Offices, which is representing Amazon.

Meanwhile, Flipkart plans to go for partnership with local stores offering customers a “touch and feel” experience, at least for some products, as online commerce continues to be minuscule in the overall Indian retail industry. The move comes close on the heels of Reliance planning grocery foray taking local kirana stores onboard. Flipkart has already established a delivery model using local kirana stores and onboarded some 27,000 stores across 700 cities. Now, it proposes to have authorised “buy zones” where a customer can walk in and check a product but he or she has to order it online.

“Our pilot project was successful in Hyderabad with mobiles where we partnered with local kirana stores for a touch and feel experience. But the order has to be taken online from a kiosk installed there,” Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart said.

Now, the e-commerce major plans to expand this localised partnerships in other parts of the country, he said.