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Amazon this week challenged the investigation in a court in
Bengaluru and the court has granted a stay of two months,
according to a lawyer from P&A Law Offices representing Amazon
and two other legal counsels involved in the matter.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) last month ordered a
probe into Amazon and Flipkart over alleged violations of
competition law and certain discounting practices.
"This comes as a major relief," said the Amazon counsel, who
declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media.
The CCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The CCI ordered its probe after a New Delhi-based trader group
complained that the e-commerce giants were promoting select
sellers and in turn hurting business for other smaller players.
Over three days of hearings in the Bengaluru court, Amazon
denied the allegations and argued that CCI did not have
sufficient evidence to order the probe.
A lawyer for the Indian trader group, Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh,
said he would appeal against the court's decision to put the
investigation on hold.
Amazon and Flipkart have faced mounting criticism from Indian
retailers which accuse them of violating local laws by racking
up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts and
discriminating against small sellers.
The companies deny the allegations.
Last month, the trade minister said Amazon wasn't doing India
any "great favor" by announcing $1 billion in investment, laying
bare the tensions with the U.S. online retailer.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil; editing by
Sanjeev Miglani and Jason Neely)
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