An Indian retail group has asked a court to allow the restart of an antitrust investigation into Amazon.com Inc and a Walmart unit that is on hold following a legal challenge by the companies, a court filing seen by Reuters showed.
Amazon and Walmart’s unit Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The appeal will likely be heard later this month at a time when both Amazon and Flipkart are battling slowing sales and logistical challenges during India’s lockdown to tackle the coronavirus which has resulted in supply chain disruptions.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in January ordered an investigation into the business practices of the two e-commerce giants, but the High Court in Karnataka state put it on hold after Amazon argued the CCI did not have sufficient evidence to order it.
Amazon and Flipkart have been facing mounting criticism from Indian retailers which accuses them of discriminating against small sellers and racking up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts.
