The National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) has filed additional information with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) about Zomato and Swiggy’s anti-competitive practices. Last week, NRAI approached the competition watchdog to look into the anti-competitive practices of these food aggregators.
What Additional Information?
On Monday, NRAI submitted additional information against Zomato and Swiggy’s alleged anti-competitive practices. It says that food aggregators charge exorbitant commissions, delay payments, and force restaurants to give discounts. Further, restaurants have had to rely on food aggregators during the pandemic. As such, these practices force restaurant owners to work in “extremely stressful conditions” and even drive many establishments towards closure.
The Association has also alleged that Swiggy and Zomato do not share customer information with restaurants, but mine the data to promote their own cloud kitchens. In some cases, companies like Domino’s and Barbeque Nation have their own delivery system and still want to get listed on these platforms. But Zomato and Swiggy make it mandatory for restaurants listed on the platform to also use its delivery services. They also delist restaurants if they offer better rates to customers through other channels, including their own.
Zomato’s Justification
In an interview with Economic Times, Co-founder Gaurav Gupta and CFO Akshant Goyal of Zomato said that aggressive discounting tactics will remain an important way of acquiring more users.
NRAI’s Statement
Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI said, “We have received overwhelming support from our restaurant partners and the industry in general. Many members have shared their personal experiences of misuse of power by these food aggregators. This prompted us to file additional information with the CCI to ensure that our continued efforts bear fruits.”
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