Indian Mobile Retailers Call for Amazon Probe, Cap on Online Smartphone Sales

Amazon says it doesn't give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace and has always complied with Indian law.

Indian Mobile Retailers Call for Amazon Probe, Cap on Online Smartphone Sales

The Amazon documents showed the company helped a small number of sellers prosper on its website

Highlights
  • Report was based on internal Amazon documents dated between 2012 and 2019
  • AIMRA urged the government to "suspend all Amazon activities in India"
  • Amazon says it doesn't give preferential treatment to any seller
Advertisement

An Indian trade group representing 150,000 mobile phone stores on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate Amazon's business practices in the country and impose a daily cap on a single seller's online smartphone sales.

In a letter sent to Modi, the group cited a special report published last month that revealed Amazon has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its Indian platform, using them to circumvent the country's strict foreign investment regulations.

The report was based on internal Amazon documents dated between 2012 and 2019.

"We were already aware of Amazon's thought process and strategy," the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) wrote in the letter. The documents, the letter said, "have revealed that Amazon is doing business in India with the strategy of deftly dodging the regulators and politicians".

AIMRA urged the government to "suspend all Amazon activities in India" until there is an investigation into the company's practices.

Amazon says it doesn't give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace and has always complied with Indian law.

Amazon and Modi's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Indian retailers, a crucial part of Modi's support base, have long alleged that Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart flout federal regulations and that their business practices hurt small traders. The companies, which run the two biggest e-commerce platforms in India, deny the allegations.

The Amazon documents reviewed by Reuters showed the company helped a small number of sellers prosper on its website, discounted their fees and helped one cut special deals with big tech manufacturers such as Apple.

Some 35 of Amazon's more than 400,000 sellers in India in early 2019 accounted for around two-thirds of its online sales, the documents also showed.

AIMRA said in its letter the government should cap a single seller's daily smartphone sales on Amazon and Flipkart at Rs. 5 lakhs.

The group also alleges the US firms promoted sales on their platforms through preferred sellers, asking the government to investigate tie-ups between smartphone brands and these sellers.

Flipkart did not respond to a request for comment. In the special report published last month, Amazon said in a statement that it was helping small businesses in India and that it "treats all sellers in a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner".

Brick-and-mortar retailers have said they're struggling to compete with the tech giants as online smartphone sales boom. By 2019, 44 percent of smartphones in India were being sold online, with Amazon and Flipkart dominating the sales, according to Forrester Research.

© Thomson Reuters 2021


Is Samsung Galaxy F62 the best phone under Rs. 25,000? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Amazon, Amazon India
Mi 11 Ultra Tipped to Feature 50-Megapixel Primary Camera in Fresh Leak
Oppo A74 5G Spotted on Multiple Certification Websites, Tipped to Have 5,000mAh Battery, Android 11: Report
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »