Amazon India faces another protest, smartphone sales may be limited

Indian trade body AIMRA , which represents 150,000 mobile phone shops, on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate Amazon 's business practices in the country and asked the government to impose a daily cap on smartphone sales by a single seller on the e-commerce platform .

Not long ago, Amazon India was questioned and protested by several business groups and organizations in India due to a report by Reuters.

Reuters reported that some internal company documents of Amazon India from 2012 to 2019 showed that Amazon India has given preferential treatment to a small number of sellers on its Indian platform for many years, using these sellers to circumvent the country's strict foreign investment regulations .

As of 2019 , Amazon India had a total of 400,000 sellers, of which about 35 sellers accounted for about two-thirds of the platform's total sales in 2019 .

Amazon India has also struck special deals with big tech manufacturers like Apple Inc to help them grow on the platform.

Amazon India, on its part , said it does not give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace and has always complied with Indian laws.

Brick-and-mortar retailers say they are struggling to compete with tech giants as online smartphone sales surge, while some unfair competition practices by e-commerce platforms are seriously affecting the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to Forrester Research, by 2019, 44% of smartphones in India were sold online, with Amazon and Flipkart dominating.

AIMRA sent a proposal letter to the government, asking it to set a daily sales limit of 500,000 rupees (6,829 U.S. dollars) for smartphones by a single seller on Amazon and Flipkart . In addition, AIMRA also asked the government to initiate an investigation between these e-commerce platforms and smartphone brands.

Amazon India is currently at the center of controversy, and due to protests from various domestic trade groups, the Indian government may once again strengthen its supervision of Amazon India, and sellers on the platform are also affected by policy fluctuations.

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