Citing two people familiar, the news agency Reuters reported that Xiaomi sent a formal application to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), noting that the investigation report on Flipkart contains sensitive business data on the smartphone company, including model-wise sales data, that should have been redacted when the document was shared with parties in the case.
This move may potentially delay the ongoing antitrust investigation against the companies, which was initiated in 2021. Previously, CCI recalled a similar report on Apple after the company raised concerns about the disclosure of commercial secrets.
CCI’s investigation reports are confidential and are exclusively shared with the parties involved in the case. When a recall is requested, all parties must return the report, which is then subjected to additional scrutiny for potential redactions, the report noted.
What CCI’s investigation found against Xiaomi
Earlier this month, CCI cited a report on Flipkart and Amazon to discover that these e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart favoured certain sellers and listings. Additionally, the report alleged that these e-tailers collaborated with companies like Xiaomi to launch phones exclusively on their platforms.
As per the data by Counterpoint Research, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is one of two India’s biggest smartphone players while other Chinese smartphone makers like Vivo have 19% of the market which is less than Xiaomi.
Why Xiaomi is concerned with the Flipkart report
The report claims that Xiaomi isn’t worried about the data within the Amazon report, which also alleges collusion between Amazon and Xiaomi. The company’s main concern lies solely with the Flipkart report.
Xiaomi has requested that the commission mandate all parties to return the Flipkart report and destroy any copies, allowing the watchdog to redact sensitive information and reissue the revised report.
The CCI’s report on Flipkart highlighted that the Indian branches of Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo and Realme engaged in the practice of exclusively launching products on Flipkart’s platform. The report criticised this practice as detrimental to free and fair competition and harmful to consumer interests.
The antitrust watchdog also recalled a similar report on Apple, where it found that the US tech giant abused its market dominance in the iOS app store. However, the iPhone maker has denied these allegations.