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Indian retail group seeks antitrust probe of fast commerce business Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto

India's biggest group of retail distributors has asked the antitrust authority to examine three quick commerce companies Zomato's. Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto for alleged predatory pricing, a. letter revealed on Sunday. Quick commerce is a new shopping rage in India, with companies. promising shipments of anything from groceries to electronic devices. within 10 minutes, improving how Indians store and challenging. ecommerce giants such as Amazon.

In a letter dated Oct. 18, All India Consumer Products. Distributors Federation (AICPDF), which represents 400,000. retail distributors of major companies consisting of Nestle. and Hindustan Unilever, informed the antitrust. body fast commerce companies were practising predatory prices - or. offering deep discounts and selling listed below cost to draw. consumers.

Zomato's Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy, which runs the. Instamart delivery service and is backed by SoftBank,. did not respond to Reuters questions.

The letter said several consumer goods companies were. dealing directly with quick commerce firms to increase their. reach, sidelining the standard salesmen who for decades. went from one shop to another to provide orders.

Such practices make it difficult for conventional merchants. to complete or survive, said the letter, which is not public however. was seen .

Execute protective steps for traditional distributors. and little sellers to protect their interests, it advised the. Competitors Commission of India (CCI).

The CCI also did not respond to a query from Reuters and. AICPDF decreased to talk about its letter.

Annual sales on Indian quick commerce platforms are set to. go beyond $6 billion this year, with Blinkit having an almost 40%. market share, while Swiggy and Zepto around 30% each, research. company Datum Intelligence said.

The CCI has powers to initiate an investigation on its own. if it discover merit in complaints, a government official informed. Reuters on Sunday, asking not to be called because he was not. authorised to speak publicly. The CCI's examination unit in August discovered bigger e-commerce. players, Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart, breached regional. laws through predatory rates, claims the business deny. Showing the strength of the fast commerce sector, Zomato's. shares have actually doubled this year and Swiggy will in the coming. weeks will release its over $1 billion IPO.

(source: Reuters)