The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed allegations against a number of e-commerce companies for anti-competitive practices. The CCI said in its order that Flipkart, Jasper Infotech (owner of Snapdeal.com), Xerion Retail (owner of Jabong.com), Amazon and Vector E-commerce (which operates Myntra.com) had not contravened the provisions of sections 3 or 4 of the Competition Act, 2002.
The CCI also stated that none of the companies concerned in the case seemed to be individually dominant, irrespective of whether the e-portal market was considered as a separate relevant product market or as a sub-segment of the market for distribution.
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In addition, the CCI observed that an exclusive arrangement between a manufacturer and an e-portal was unlikely to create any entry barriers as most products sold through exclusive e-partners, such as mobile phones, tablets, books and cameras, faced competitive constraints. “It does not appear that because of these exclusive agreements any of the existing players in the retail market are getting adversely affected, rather with new e-portals entering into the market, competition seems to be growing,” the CCI said.
The case was filed by Mohit Manglani from Mumbai and the All Delhi Computer Traders’ Association (ADCTA), an online portal for the IT, computer hardware and electronics market.
Supreme Court senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan represented Flipkart before the CCI along with Luthra & Luthra. The Luthra team comprised senior partner Bobby Chandhoke, partner Abdullah Hussain, managing associate Kanika Chaudhary Nayar and intern Divye Sharma.
Khaitan & Co partner Manas Kumar Chaudhuri and executive director Arshad Paku Khan represented Jasper Infotech. They were supported by senior associate Sagardeep Rathi, Snapdeal’s deputy manager of legal, Shine Joy, and a senior research associate in competition law at the CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition, Lunita Hijam.
Xerion Retail’s compliance officer Shruti Bhardwaj, Jabong’s general manager Satyendra Vir Singh, and Anindita Mitra acted for Xerion.
P&A Law Offices managing partner Anand Pathak and competition and antitrust lawyer Akshay Nanda represented Amazon. Amazon general counsel Rakesh Bakshi and senior legal counsel Ankur Sharma were also advisers.
Trilegal partner Amit Tambe and senior associate Gautam Chawla acted for Vector E-commerce.
Dua Associates partner Munish Sharma advised ADCTA along with the association’s president, Mahinder Aggarwal, and its general secretary, Swarn Singh.
Mohit Manglani represented himself.
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