New Delhi: India’s antitrust body has ordered an investigation into the conduct of online food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy, according to an order dated April 4th. “The Commission is of the view that there exists a prima facie case with respect to some of the conduct of Zomato and Swiggy, which requires an investigation by the Director-General (DG), to determine whether the conduct of platforms have resulted in contravention of the provisions,” CCI said.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has directed its DG to carry out a detailed investigation and submit a report to it within 60 days. CCI has received a complaint from the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) seeking a probe into the practices of online food delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy. NRAI has alleged that the commissions which are charged by these platforms from restaurant partners are unviable and are to the tune of 20% to 30%, which are extremely exorbitant.
Further, the restaurants association has also alleged that Zomato and Swiggy, who together corner more than 95% of the market, have been engaging in the practice of deep discounting, through schemes and incentives offered by them to customers. “It was alleged that although earlier parties were funding such discounts themselves, now the discounts have been mandated to be funded by the restaurant partners to maintain an adequate listing on their platform.”