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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has postponed the appeal, filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) body against the Walmart-Flipkart deal , to January 24, 2019.
The matter will be heard by a two-bench panel consisting of Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya. Prior to this, the case was adjourned twice on October 5 and November 12.
The CAIT had filed a petition against the approval of the Walmart-Flipkart deal by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The $16 billion acquisition of Flipkart by the US-based retailer Walmart will entitle Walmart a 77 per cent share in the e-commerce platform.
The appellate tribunal, on September 6, had asked Walmart and CAIT to submit a response on the Walmart’s business strategies and the CAIT’s understanding over Walmart’s business model in India. The responses have been submitted.
CAIT and RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch have raised concerns over the fairness of the deal, which is considered one of the biggest startup exits in the country. The organisations stated that it will create unfair competition and an uneven field for domestic players. They also said that it will indulge in predatory pricing, deep discounts and loss funding.
However, the CCI stated that it did not find any vertical overlap between the B2B businesses of Walmart and Flipkart. Even on the issue of horizontal overlap, the combined market share of the parties would be less than five per cent, which is not likely to cause an adverse impact on the competition.
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