Phone companies press the crackdown button on deep online discounts

New Delhi: Smartphone brands such as Xiaomi and Realme are cracking down against scalper retailers looking to make a quick buck by selling devices cheaper on online platforms as the companies bet big on the offline channel to boost growth in the world’s second largest smartphone market.

After complaints from retailer associations, brands including Xiaomi and Realme are repurchasing stocks selling at lower prices to trace back the retailer and distributor and penalise them, according to correspondence between the two parties ET has seen.