Amazon India Says Not Giving Preferential Treatment to Certain Sellers

Amazon India has denied allegations that it was giving preferential treatment to certain merchants and brands in a response to a petition lodged by the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA).

On October 5, the association had filed a petition against India’s second largest ecommerce platform, alleging the company was giving preferential treatment to Cloudtail and Appario, both of which are partly owned by Amazon, news agency Reuters reported.

Responding to the allegations, an Amazon India spokeswoman said that Amazon is committed to be in complete compliance with the law and has “an equal relationship with all the sellers on our marketplace,” the news agency quoted.

AIOVA, which represents over 3,500 merchants that sell on Amazon, alleged that the online retailer has been charging less commission from both Cloudtail and Appario than Amazon’s advertised rates. Cloudtail is a joint venture between Amazon Inc. and Infosys co-founder N.R.Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and was known to be the largest seller on Amazon in 2015 while Appario is co-owned by Amazon and Patni group.

AIOVA’s lawyer, Chanakya Basa told Reuters that “there should not be any preferential treatment.”

Last month, Amazon India has launched its portal and app in Hindi with the aim of reaching 100 million new customers that speak this language. With this launch, Amazon had pipped Walmart owned Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company, in reaching out to the country’s hinterlands where Hindi is widely spoken.

Earlier this year, E-commerce firm Amazon said that it was hiring 4,000 people in India, and that a few people have been affected in the bid to reorganize teams, following reports that it is laying off 60 people.

According to a report in Forbes, Amazon India has the same market share as Flipkart, which is about 30% each.