NEW DELHI, Sept 14 (Reuters): Samsung, Xiaomi and other smartphone companies colluded with Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart to exclusively launch products on the e-commerce firms' Indian websites in breach of antitrust laws, according to regulatory reports seen by Reuters.
Antitrust investigations conducted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have found that Amazon and Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers, prioritising certain listings, and steeply discounting products, hurting other companies, Reuters reported this week.
The CCI's 1,027-page report on Amazon also said the Indian units of five companies - Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme and OnePlus - were "involved in the practice of exclusive" phone launches in "collusion" with Amazon and its affiliates, breaking competition law.
In Flipkart's case, a 1,696-page CCI report said the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme conducted similar practices.
The inclusion of smartphone makers like Samsung and Xiaomi in the case could increase their legal and compliance headaches.
"Exclusivity in business is anathema. Not only is it against free and fair competition but also against the interest of consumers," CCI's additional director general G.V. Siva Prasad wrote in the Amazon and Flipkart reports, in identical findings.
Reuters is first to report the smartphone companies have been accused of anticompetitive behavior in the CCI's reports which are dated Aug. 9 and are not public.
Xiaomi declined to comment, while the other smartphone makers did not respond to requests for comment.
Amazon, Flipkart and the CCI did not respond, and have not so far commented on the reports' findings.
Both the CCI reports said that during investigations Amazon and Flipkart "deliberately downplayed" allegations of exclusive launches, but officials found the practice was "rampant".
Counterpoint Research data shows that South Korea's Samsung and China's Xiaomi are two of India's biggest smartphone players, together holding an almost 36 per cent market share, with China's Vivo on 19 per cent.
India's e-retail market is set to exceed $160 billion by 2028, up from $57-60 billion in 2023, consultancy firm Bain estimates.
The investigation findings are a major setback for Amazon and Flipkart in a key growth market where they have faced the ire of small retailers for years for hurting their offline businesses.
