Amazon, Flipkart fight artificial price surge amid Coronavirus outbreak

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, e-commerce giants are fighting a challenge of another kind — artificial price rise. As the demand for kitchen staples and consumer sanitary products rise, both the online platforms are witnessing surge prices.

While Amazon India has blocked several products those were selling at a price higher than the MRP, Walmart-owned Flipkart said it is removing products with fake claims and inflated prices on an ongoing basis.

“We are working to ensure that no one artificially raises prices on basic needs products during this pandemic and have blocked or removed tens of thousands of items, in line with our long-standing policy,” said Amazon India in a blogpost on Tuesday. Globally, Amazon has removed over one million products for making false claims related to coronavirus.