If the Competition Commission of India (CCI) agrees to recall the report, it could postpone the ongoing antitrust investigation that commenced in 2021. Notably, in August, the commission took the unusual step of retracting an antitrust report concerning Apple after the company raised similar concerns about the disclosure of commercial secrets.
In its application, Xiaomi has informed the commission that the investigation report regarding Flipkart includes sensitive business information about the smartphone manufacturer that should have been redacted prior to sharing the document with involved parties, as stated by the two sources.
One specific concern raised by Xiaomi pertains to the report's inclusion of detailed model-wise sales data, which is considered sensitive, according to one of the sources.
Xiaomi, Flipkart, and the competition authority have not yet responded to inquiries from Reuters.
Typically, the commission does not make investigation reports public; they are only distributed to the parties involved in the case. A recall necessitates that the parties return the report for additional review and redaction.
The commission has determined that major e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart have favored certain sellers and prioritized specific listings, and they have also allegedly collaborated with companies such as Xiaomi to exclusively launch smartphones on their platforms, as reported by Reuters this month based on the August findings regarding Flipkart and Amazon.
Data from Counterpoint Research indicates that South Korea's Samsung and China's Xiaomi are among the leading smartphone brands in India, collectively holding nearly 36% of the market share, while China's Vivo accounts for 19%.
Xiaomi does not have concerns regarding the data in the report related to Amazon, where investigators also indicated that the two companies engaged in collusion on online sales, in violation of antitrust laws, according to both sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the matter.
The commission is requesting that the involved parties return the report and eliminate any copies, enabling the oversight body to further redact sensitive information and redistribute the reports, according to the first source.
A similar action was taken by the watchdog regarding its report on Apple, which concluded that the U.S. company had taken advantage of its dominant position in the app store market on its iOS platform. Apple has denied any wrongdoing.
In its report on Flipkart, the commission indicated that the Indian subsidiaries of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Vivo, Lenovo, and Realme engaged in exclusive product launches on Flipkart's platform, stating that this practice undermines free and fair competition and is detrimental to consumer interests.