'Anti-competitive offers by Samsung killing retail trade', CAIT writes to CCI

New Delhi, Feb 7 The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on alleged anti-competitive offers by leading manufacturer Samsung.

The CAIT in a letter to the CCI Chairman has claimed that leading manufacturers like Samsung too have plunged into ‘anticompetitive and retail destructive' policies like their Chinese counterparts and foreign ecommerce platforms for benefits of themselves, creating a void in the retail trade impacting the business and economy adversely.

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The CAIT has said that the brand after having created its business through retail has today started indulging in malpractices of anti-competitive exclusive offers to the customer directly from Samsung.com, forcing them to divert from the retail stores to the direct online business which has been creating a void in the market and shaking the confidence of over 1.5 lakh mobile retailers in the country.

"The brand even after several representations in person, through mails and tweets from All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), the apex body representing the mobile retailers of the country, has failed to address and take corrective measures.

"These offers are spoiling the business of the MSME's into this trade creating a big loss of business and huge unemployment impacting the economy as a whole," the traders' body said.

With the recent launch of the Galaxy S23 series, the brand has extended one-sided monopolistic treatment against the retailers by directly unmatching exclusive offerings on Samsung.com , diverting the customers and pulling on their own platform, CAIT said.

"We request the intervention of the CCI to take cognisance of the same by directing immediate corrections for a level playing field and a healthy progressive revenue generator retail market contributing to the economy," read the letter issued on Tuesday.