Appario Sues CCI In Karnataka High Court Over Antitrust Probe

Appario Sues CCI In Karnataka High Court Over Antitrust Probe

Amazon's documents showed its preferential treatment for certain sellers on its platform and used them to bypass Indian laws

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has revealed that Amazon, Flipkart and some of their sellers and smartphone brands, violated competition laws by giving preference to select online sellers and prioritizing certain listings.

However, Appario, a former top Amazon seller in India has asked a judge to quash an antitrust investigation that found the US e-commerce company and others breaching the norms.

In 2021, Amazon's documents showed the company’s preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers on its platform and used them to bypass Indian laws.

Meanwhile, Appario, which has since ceased to be a seller on Amazon, challenged the CCI in the Karnataka High Court stating that the investigation report naming it must be set aside. The company added that a CCI order asking it to submit the financial statements after the investigation was completed, should be quashed.

It was reported that Appario was internally referred to as a ‘special’ merchant by Amazon and received discounted fees and access to global retail tools used for inventory management.

The lawsuit marked the first legal challenge to the CCI investigation, which commenced in 2020, posing a major challenge to Amazon’s key market - India.

As part of its investigations, the Commission had raided Appario and some other sellers in 2022.

However, Amazon denied any wrongdoing. It maintained no preferential treatment was given to any seller and that it complied with the laws. But, in October 2022, it said that Appario would cease to list products on the website within a year.