ED conducts raids on E-commerce vendors in Amazon and Flipkart

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday launched a crackdown on the vendors operating on e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart as part of a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) investigation. As per report, the ED conducted raids on at least 15 to 16 locations belonging to these vendors.The central agency conducted these search raids in multiple locations, including Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Bengaluru (Karnataka). The sources said that the operation is linked to financial transactions conducted by “preferred” vendors on the two platforms.
This action comes after antitrust inquiries led by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) raised red flags about Amazon and Flipkart's business practices. The CCI found that the e-commerce giants had allegedly violated local competition laws by favoring specific sellers, prioritizing their product listings, and offering steep discounts that disadvantage other vendors. The CCI's findings suggested that these actions could harm competition and undermine the fair business environment for smaller sellers on the platforms.Sources told PTI that the action is related to the financial transactions being done by some of the "preferred" vendors and sellers who do business through Amazon and Flipkart like e-commerce platforms.