India accuses Samsung, Xiaomi of colluding with Amazon & Flipkart

Antitrust investigations by CCI have found that Amazon & Flipkart violated local competition laws by giving preference to select sellers

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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 1,696page CCI report said the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme conducted similar practices.