Comments
Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong, and Myntra have got a clean chit from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on allegations of indulging in unfair business practices.
The fair trade regulator had received complaints against the e-commerce companies that they indulged in anti-competitive practices in the nature of ‘exclusive agreements’ with sellers of goods/services to sell products only on select portals.
In its recent order, the CCI said it did not find any prima facie evidence of violations by the e-commerce companies. The regulator said it does not see it necessary to go into the question of abuse of dominance.
It was also alleged that each e-commerce player has 100 per cent market share for the product it is selling exclusively on its site and therefore, it leads to dominance.
“Every product cannot be taken as a relevant market in itself,” the CCI said. “Irrespective of whether we consider the e-portal market as a separate relevant product market or as a sub-segment of the market for distribution, none of the opposite parties seems to be individually dominant.”
The online distribution channels provide an opportunity to the consumers to compare the prices as well as the pros and cons of the product. At this stage, it does not appear that the exclusive arrangement between manufacturers and e-commerce players leads to appreciable adverse effect on competition in the market, the regulator added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.