Amazon To Indian Court: Reuters Story Is No Reason To Resume Probe

Amazon told an Indian court that a Reuters special report into the e-commerce giant’s business practices should not be considered as evidence, as India’s competition watchdog sought to lift an injunction on an antitrust probe.

The Reuters report showed the US firm gave preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its platform, sidestepping foreign investment rules meant to protect India’s small retailers from being crushed by e-commerce giants.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) order of investigation into Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart in January 2020 followed a complaint from a trader group, but a court put it on hold in February last year after the companies argued there was no evidence they were harming competition.

Last month, in a hearing seeking to lift the injunction on the probe, CCI counsel read parts of the Reuters special report to a judge in Karnataka High Court, saying it corroborated what was said in the original complaint the watchdog received.

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