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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is
engaged in what it describes as a "fact-finding exercise" aimed
at better understanding the e-commerce sector, showed a document
distributed to several e-commerce firms and reviewed by Reuters.
The CCI document features 88 questions over 12 pages requesting
recipients volunteer pricing strategies, product information and
the identities of their biggest-selling vendors.
Amazon and Flipkart are among India's largest e-commerce
companies so their participation in any such survey could carry
significant weight. Yet the pair are unlikely to answer
questions in full as doing so would involve disclosing
commercially sensitive information, the two people told Reuters.
"This survey is very detailed," said one of the people, who
declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak
publicly on the matter. "Companies are worried because these are
competitive, confidential things which are business critical."
Amazon, Flipkart and the CCI did not respond to Reuters requests
for comment.
CCI's study comes about four months after the government
implemented new rules regulating foreign investment in
e-commerce, including barring the sale of products on their
platforms from vendors in which they have an equity interest.
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The rules saw scores of products vanish from Amazon's Indian
website overnight, and shocked Walmart which just months earlier
had bought the majority of Flipkart for $16 billion in the U.S.
retailer's biggest-ever acquisition.
U.S. officials and e-commerce companies have protested the
rules, which were widely seen as aimed at winning the support of
small traders ahead of a general election. The incumbent
government won the election this month by a landslide.
To better understand the e-commerce sector, the CCI in its
document asks companies basic details such as the number of
employees, but asks online marketplace operators more sensitive
questions such as how they charge vendors on their platforms.
It also asks questions regarding contractual agreements struck
between e-commerce companies and vendors.
There is no indication of compulsory participation in the
survey, with the CCI in the document saying it "does not form a
part of any investigation and/or inquiry in any of the
proceedings pending" before the watchdog.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Sankalp
Phartiyal; Editing by Martin Howell and Christopher Cushing)
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