Zomato, Swiggy, Zepto face antitrust case over alleged deep discounting

India's e-commerce sector has faced intense scrutiny over how products are priced online. An antitrust investigation last year found Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart favour select sellers and resorted to "predatory pricing", which hurts smaller retailers. The companies have denied the allegations.

Bengaluru: The All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), a retail distributors body, has filed an anti-trust case against rapid delivery companies including Zomato, Swiggy and Zepto, over alleged predatory pricing and deep discounting, highly placed sources have told DH.

The complaint was filed with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on February 20, 2025 to investigate these allegations, months after the distributors association had already complained about the same issue to the Commerce Ministry.

“We had reached out to the Commerce Ministry with our woes in October 2024, reporting competition and even transport law violations by these companies, which was later transferred to CCI. While some issues were solved, the main problem of predatory pricing and deep discounting weren’t, hence, an official complaint with the CCI was filed,” added the source, requesting anonymity.

The federation had also submitted a memorandum to CCI last year in October, claiming that these unfair practices are directly hurting the livelihood of the traditional retailers. “However, there was no response to that either,” said the source on this matter.

Quick commerce companies have been under the scanner over their strategies of selling products at comparatively low prices, driving away business from traditional stores. The sector has been booming, with revenue expected to grow by 16.60% (2025-2029), resulting in a projected market volume of $9.95bn by 2029, according to data by Statista.

“A Tata Tea Gold pouch of 1 kg is sold at a Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of Rs 710 and retailers land it at Rs 657. However, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Blinkit sell it at Rs 461, 469 and Rs 554, respectively which is obviously hurting businesses. It’s not like physical kirana stores were not shutting down earlier, but because of the practices by these companies, such stores are closing much quicker and in a forced manner,” the source added. The association has submitted a list of such 100 products with comparisons as proof to the CCI.

Swiggy and Zomato are already under investigation by the CCI over alleged violation of competition laws. The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) had filed a petition over ‘exclusivity’ practices by online food aggregators in 2021. However, the full report, in its entirety, is yet to be made available to the association.

Apart from this, NRAI has also complained against Zomato and Swiggy entering into quick commerce through their private-label food delivery brands, Bistro and Snacc, respectively. According to the association, this is a violation of fair competition and poses a significant threat to the viability of thousands of restaurants across India.