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China’s Xiaomi Challenges India’s Antitrust Report on Flipkart's Competition Law Violations and Asks to Recall Citing Sensitive Information Concerns

Today in the tech and business field, Xiaomi has reportedly asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the antitrust body of India to retract its report on Walmart’s Flipkart quoting concerns over disclosure of commercial secrets.

China’s Xiaomi has called on India’s antitrust watchdog, CCI to retract its sensitive report on Walmart-owned Flipkart and Xiaomi breached competition laws. Amidst the report being published, the tech giant has shared its concerns over its content saying it contains confidential business information that was to be redacted by Xiaomi. According to Xiaomi, its release poses major risks to the company and its data confidentiality.

This controversy is part of the significant investigation launched by India’s CCI in June against tech and e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. As per the initial findings, Amazon and Flipkart were compliant with the fact that they colluded to give preference to certain sellers and prioritised certain listings.

Their competition practices came under the radar when the investigation revealed that Flipkart and Amazon tampered with their seller information and therefore meddling in the e-commerce competitive laws. The report also implicated smartphone companies, including Xiaomi, in working with these platforms to launch products exclusively online further distorting the competitive landscape.

The main argument by Xiaomi on the matter is that Xiaomi's market-wise sales data is among the sensitive information contained in the report, which the company wants to be redacted. Additionally, as per Xiaomi the model-by-model breakdown of their sales will hamper their company data and was not to be made public, further stating the reason for being retracted. This move comes as a relief point for Xiaomi as the CCI has previously taken back its report on Apple after the company raised concerns over commercial secrets being disclosed. However, this power move might slow down the ongoing investigation by CCI started in 2021.

Xiaomi’s Demand and Concerns

As this report comes to light, Xiaomi has made the following specific concerns about Flipkart but not about Amazon report which also found Xiaomi to have colluded with Amazon. These concerns include:

Recall the report: Ask parties to return the report and destroy any copies.

Redact sensitive information: Further review and redact sensitive business data.

Reshare the reports: Once the sensitive information is removed.

As per the market share goes, Xiaomi holds a major market in India alongside Samsung. Xiaomi has almost 36% of the market share in the smartphone followed by Vivo at 19% which makes Xiaomi liable to a significant loss amidst the findings of the report.

Apple’s Precedence

For Xiaomi to have worked towards getting a retraction comes from Apple’s case of retraction from a report of 2021. In it, Apple cited crucial information about sales being exploited and publicized which led CCI to take back its report. However, the commission did find that Apple misused its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system.

Keeping this incident in mind, the next steps from CCI hold a crucial place in determining the course of the investigation. Will CCI take back its report or will it stay its ground? Stay tuned to know more if Flipkart and Amazon will face major implications or work as usual.