India's Antitrust Turbulence: CCI's Second Report Recall Ignites Concerns

India's Competition Commission (CCI) recalled a report on Walmart's Flipkart for competition law breaches after Xiaomi highlighted that commercial secrets were included. The CCI instructed the report's recipients to destroy it, following a similar recall concerning Apple. Investigations remain stalled due to legal challenges from involved parties.

In a surprising move, India's antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has withdrawn its investigation report regarding competition law infractions by Walmart's e-commerce platform, Flipkart. This decision marks the CCI's second such withdrawal in just a few months, with a similar incident involving Apple occurring in August.

The recall comes in response to a complaint lodged by Chinese tech giant Xiaomi. Xiaomi expressed concerns that the report contained confidential business information, which should have been redacted for privacy and trade secret protection. An internal document from the CCI, obtained by Reuters, suggests that some sensitive data was accidentally included and requires amendment.

The CCI's investigations, initiated in 2020, delve into allegations of preferential treatment towards select sellers by both Flipkart and Amazon and alleged collusive behavior with phone manufacturers. Yet, part of the probe remains stalled due to legal interventions by companies like Vivo and other e-commerce participants challenging the investigation.

(With inputs from agencies.)