Amazon questions CCI jurisdiction on probe

BENGALURU : The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order, has temporarily upheld arguments of ecommerce platforms questioning the jurisdiction of India’s antitrust regulator to conduct the investigation that it had announced in January.

Amazon’s India unit filed a writ petition in the Karnataka HC earlier this month seeking a stay on the probe ordered by the country’s antitrust regulator, Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 14 January against the company for alleged violations of competition law.

In the interim order, the judge ruled in favour of arguments made by Amazon that it comes under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and any violation under this would be liable for penalty and not under the CCI.