Online retailers accused of unfair practices gets a clean chit

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected allegations of unfair business practices against five leading online retail majors:-Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra due to lack of prima facie evidence of violation. The complaints were filed against Flipkart India, Jasper Infotech, Xerion Retail, Amazon Seller Services and Vector E-commerce.

"The commission is of the prima facie view that no case of contravention of the provisions of either section 3 or section 4 of the act is made out against the opposite parties (the online retail players)," it said in a 10-page order. It was alleged that e-commerce websites and product sellers entered into agreements to sell products exclusively on select portals.

There have been talks of rules to regularise ecommerce businesses in India. Even, in the past, after ‘Big Billion Day’ sale event of Flipkart, traders’ body CAIT had asked the Commerce and Industry Ministry to take steps to monitor and regulate online businesses. In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National General Secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Praveen Khandelwal had demanded, setting up of a regulatory authority for e-commerce business in India.