ED launches probe into Amazon, Flipkart sellers for FEMA violations

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches against some sellers who do business on e-commerce giants like Amazon , Flipkart as part of a FEMA investigation, official sources said. Multiple locations in Delhi, Gurugram ( Haryana ), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) are being searched, the sources said.They said the action is related to the financial transactions being done by some of the "preferred" vendors and sellers who do business through Amazon and Flipkart like e-commerce platforms. The probe is being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), they said.“The raids on sellers of Amazon and Flipkart is a part of ED's probe…for alleged violations of foreign exchange laws,” a government source with direct knowledge told Reuters.The raids take place weeks after Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, both of which have seen their business thrive – especially during the festival season between September and November, were found violating anti-competitive rules by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which also accused of smartphone brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, and Motorola of colluding with the e-commerce companies by forging exclusive deals for the sale of their smartphones.After a lengthy investigation, CCI documents the findings on how both e-commerce companies gave preference to select sellers on its platform and prioritised their listings across categories – a move that undermined the visibility of other smaller sellers. Soon after the report was submitted to the government, Vivo and online sellers challenged their name in the report, while Flipkart and Amazon called the allegations baseless.Earlier this week, CCI had to recall its investigation report into the law breaches after Xiaomi complained that the document contained commercial secrets that should have been redacted before the presentation. Previously, Apple also objected to the presence of confidential business strategies mentioned in the report, causing CCI to revoke the report back in August.Written with inputs from agencies

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ED launches probe into Amazon, Flipkart sellers for FEMA violations

Multiple locations in Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) are being searched, according to the latest information.

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