Competition Commission of India (CCI) has retracted its investigation report on competition law violations involving Walmart's Flipkart, as revealed by a document, marking the second such withdrawal this year following a similar action regarding Apple in August.
Xiaomi had previously lodged a complaint with the CCI, arguing that the report—which identified Flipkart, several of its sellers, and various smartphone companies as breaching competition laws—contained confidential commercial information that should have been redacted, as reported by Reuters in September.
According to two sources and an internal CCI document dated October 1, the commission has instructed recipients of the Flipkart report to destroy their copies and submit a commitment to do so, in order to prevent further circulation. Xiaomi contended that the report included sensitive details about its model-wise sales data.
The CCI document acknowledged that certain data was “inadvertently” included in the report and provided the involved parties with a revised report, though it did not clarify the specific changes made. While Xiaomi refrained from commenting, the CCI and Flipkart have not responded to Reuters' inquiries.
In August, the CCI had recalled an antitrust report concerning Apple after the company raised concerns about the disclosure of commercial secrets to various stakeholders.
During an extensive investigation that began in 2020, the CCI found that both Flipkart and its e-commerce rival Amazon favoured select sellers, prioritised certain product listings, and colluded with companies such as Xiaomi, Samsung, and Vivo to launch exclusive phone models on their platforms. However, much of the investigation has been stalled as Vivo and some online sellers from the two e-commerce giants challenged their involvement in the probe, successfully obtaining court injunctions.
In other news, a federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that Google profited from Google Play gift card scams by not providing refunds for stolen funds. U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman stated that the plaintiff, Judy May, did not demonstrate that Google caused her financial losses or had knowledge of receiving stolen funds. The judge noted that May lost money due to the actions of scammers who persuaded her to purchase gift cards.
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Inputs from Reuters
