Google’s CCI petition dismissed; Amazon dubbed “East India Company 2.0”
Also in this letter:
- RSS-linked weekly calls
Amazon “East India Company 2.0” - Demand for commercial EVs likely to skyrocket
- China targets ‘disorderly expansion’ by tech firms
Earlier today the Competition Commission of India (CCI) told the Delhi High Court that it did not leak any information to the media relating to its probe into Google’s Android smartphone agreements.
The court took note of the CCI’s submissions and dismissed Google’s petition about the leak.
Catch up quick: Last Thursday, Google filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court against the CCI over the leaking of a confidential report by its director general (DG) on the Android investigation.
Google said in its petition it had not yet received or reviewed the 750-page report, which the Rashtra News and Reuters had cited on September 18 to state that the CCI had found evidence that the company was abusing its dominant position. It said the breach of confidence impaired its ability to defend itself and harmed it and its partners.
Update: The CCI told the high court that Google’s plea was “wholly misplaced” and an attempt to frustrate the investigation. Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, representing the CCI, said that to expedite the proceedings it had no objection to accepting the company’s request on maintaining confidentiality.
Google’s counsel said if the CCI is bound by its statement, the grievance stands addressed.
The investigation: The probe in question was launched in April 2019, when the CCI said in an order that Google appeared to have misused its dominant position in India by discouraging phone manufacturers from choosing alternative versions of Android, which runs 98% of smartphones in India.
According to reports, the probe found Google India guilty of stifling competition and innovation to the detriment of the market and consumers to maintain its dominance in search, music (through YouTube), browsers (Chrome), app libraries (Play Store) and other key services.
Google vs CCI: Google is subject to two other investigations by the CCI.
RSS-linked weekly calls Amazon “East India Company 2.0”
Panchjanya, a weekly with links to the RSS, has called ecommerce major Amazon “East India Company 2.0”, while alleging that it has paid crores of rupees in bribes for favourable government policies.
Its latest edition, which will hit the stands on October 3, reads: “Whatever the East India Company did in the 18th century to capture India, the same is visible in the activities of Amazon.”
It claimed Amazon was seeking to establish a monopoly in the Indian market, and “has started taking initiatives to seize the economic, political and personal freedom of Indian citizens”.
It also accused Amazon Prime Video of releasing movies and television series that are “against Indian culture”.
Amazon’s troubles: Last week, The Morning Context reported that Amazon had begun an investigation into allegations of corruption by its legal representatives in India and had placed a senior member of the team on leave. Amazon later issued a statement, saying it had zero-tolerance for corruption and would investigate all such allegations fully.
Amazon is also facing increased scrutiny from regulators here. Last month, the Supreme Court allowed India’s competition regulator to proceed with its investigation against Amazon India and Flipkart for allegedly abusing their dominance by offering deep discounts and preferential treatment to some vendors.
Ecommerce rules: India is also tightening regulations for online retailers following years of protests by offline traders. In June, the consumer affairs ministry released a number of proposed changes to the ecommerce rules, including a ban on ‘flash sales’ and barring “related parties” of the companies from selling on their platforms.
In response, Flipkart, Amazon India, Tata Group and other ecommerce companies told the government they were especially concerned about this “related-party clause”, which could prevent them from selling on their own platforms.
And reports last week revealed that this plan has run into internal government dissent as well.
- The finance ministry has a dozen objections in total and has described some proposals as “excessive” and “without economic rationale”.
- Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said the rules could hurt small businesses. “Moreover, they send the message of unpredictability and inconsistency in our policy-making,” he added.
- The corporate affairs ministry objected to a clause in the proposed rules that says ecommerce firms should not abuse their dominant position in India, terming the provision “unnecessary and superfluous”.
Also Read: New India ecommerce rules and their impact, explained
Demand for commercial EVs likely to skyrocket
Demand for
Sameer Aggarwal, founder of RevFin, which has been financing the purchase of EVs since 2018, said in the past 6-9 months, the market has recognised the need to shift to EVs.
Quote: “In July and August alone, there has been a three-fold increase in demand compared to pre-pandemic years. We expect a 15x rise in demand in the next six months (compared with pre-pandemic times),” said Aggarwal. He estimated that India’s market for commercial EVs would grow to $15-20 billion in the next five years.
The potential: Given the rapid growth in ecommerce—accelerated by the pandemic—up to eight million vehicles are expected to be on the road in the urban delivery segment by 2030, according to a Niti Aayog study. If India were to fully electrify its urban delivery fleet, the country’s EV financing industry would be worth an estimated Rs 3.7 lakh crore by then.
Youngblood for a young industry: EV manufacturers are lining up to hire fresh college graduates and don’t seem too keen on hiring talent from traditional automakers.
The stats: Staffing firm TeamLease said on average it hires 10 freshers for every one experienced employee for EV companies. That compares to a ratio of four campus recruits to one experienced hand for conventional automakers.
Tweet of the day
ETtech Done Deals
■ Akudo, a learning-focused neobank for teenagers, has raised $4.2 million in its seed round led by Y Combinator, JAFCO Asia, Incubate Fund India, and AET Fund. The round also saw participation from Tribe Capital, Cabra Capital, and angel investors such as Groww cofounder Lalit Keshre, among others. It aims to use the funds to expand its team of 12 to 50 over the next 12-18 months.
■ Edtech firm
China goes after ‘disorderly expansion’ by tech firms
China will take further steps to rein in internet companies, a senior cyberspace official said, citing the shared economy, online health care and smart delivery as areas of concern.
Vice minister Sheng Ronghua told the World Internet Conference on Monday that curbing monopolistic behaviour and the “disorderly expansion of capital” were top priorities for the Cyberspace Administration of China. Sheng also listed self-driving vehicles and platform economies as areas that required stronger regulation.
Quote: “We need to build a solid legal foundation for anti-monopoly efforts and prevent disordered expansion of capital,” Sheng said at the annual conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province. “A sound data-management and trading mechanism will also be built.”
The vice minister’s comments suggest that the effort could extend to new firms.
Crackdown on crypto: Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchanges are scrambling to sever business ties with mainland Chinese clients, after Beijing last Friday issued a blanket ban on all crypto trading and mining.
Cutting ties: Huobi Global and Binance, two of the world’s largest exchanges and popular with Chinese users, have stopped new registrations of accounts by mainland customers. Huobi also said it would clean up existing ones by the end of the year.
TokenPocket, a popular service provider of crypto wallets, also said in a notice to clients that it would terminate services to mainland Chinese clients that risk violating Chinese policies and would “actively embrace” regulation.
Crypto stocks fall: Shares in crypto-related firms tumbled, with crypto asset manager and trading firm Huobi Tech plunging 23% and OKG Technology Holdings Ltd, a fintech company majority-owned by Xu Mingxing, the founder of crypto exchange OKcoin, losing 12%.
Also Read: What’s new in China’s crackdown on crypto?
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Arun Padmanabhan in New Delhi and Zaheer Merchant in Mumbai.
( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a economictimes.indiatimes.com feed.)
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