Supreme Court transfers Amazon, Flipkart pleas against CCI probe to Karnataka HC

The Supreme Court on Monday transferred to the Karnataka High Court all petitions filed by Amazon and Flipkart challenging a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order for an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by the e-commerce giants.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that any similar petitions filed in other courts in the future would also be subject to the transfer order.

"It will be appropriate if all the petitions which are the subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka," the bench said.

Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the bench that five separate petitions were pending in various high courts, including those in Allahabad, Madras, Telangana, Punjab and Haryana, and Delhi.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued a notice on the plea filed by the CCI, which sought the transfer of the petitions filed by the e-commerce giants from the high courts to the top court or Delhi High Court.

In its plea before the apex court, the CCI sought directions to transfer either to the Supreme Court or Delhi High Court the cases pending before the high courts of Allahabad, Madras, Telangana, Punjab and Haryana, Delhi, and Karnataka.

India’s FDI rules mandate that foreign e-commerce firms act only as marketplaces, avoiding direct influence over product pricing or inventory to ensure a level playing field among vendors.

The CCI's investigation resulted in voluminous reports—1,027 pages on Amazon and 1,696 pages on Flipkart—finding that both companies engaged in anti-competitive practices. These included preferential listings, favorable search rankings, and marketing support for select sellers, which the regulator said marginalised other sellers.

"Each of the anti-competitive practices alleged ... were investigated and found to be true," said CCI, according to Reuters.

"Ordinary sellers remained as mere database entries," the two reports said in identical conclusions on both companies.

Both companies have denied any wrongdoing, asserting compliance with India's foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations.