By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s antitrust body launched raids on Thursday against two top domestic sellers of online retail giant Amazon.com Inc over accusations of having violated competition laws, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The exact nature of the alleged violation was not immediately clear. The two sellers were Cloudtail and Appario, the sources said on condition of anonymity, as the details were not public. Amazon has an indirect equity stake in both.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cloudtail, Appario and the regulator, the Competition Commission of India, also did not immediately respond to emailed queries.
A Reuters investigation last year, based on Amazon documents, showed it had given preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers, including Cloudtail, and used them to bypass Indian laws. (https://reut.rs/3rTWXxi)
In August, Amazon and Cloudtail decided the latter would cease to be a seller from May 2022.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
