The country’s antitrust watchdog has said that two Indian food delivery companies are being probed for potential unfair business practices.
With a combined market share of 95 percent, Zomato and Swiggy lead India’s fast-growing sector.
The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) lodged a complaint months ago, and the order to probe the companies came months later.
The businesses have remained silent about the probe.
When the NRAI filed the complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in July last year, the businesses allegedly refuted the allegations.
The NRAI, which represents over 500,000 restaurants in India, has urged the CCI to look into the two businesses for allegedly giving select eateries preferential treatment.
The group also claims that the two corporations give discounts after charging eateries “exorbitant charges.”
The commissions were also too expensive for eateries to sustain, according to the report.
According to the CCI, the companies’ arrangements with eateries may create “entry obstacles for new platforms, with no advantage to consumers.”
Swiggy, which is backed by SoftBank, just secured $700 million in investment, bringing its worth to $10.7 billion. Last year, when Zomato went public, company received $46.3 billion in bids and was more than 38 times oversubscribed.
The two companies are among the fastest-growing start-ups in India, which has been rapidly creating unicorns, private companies valued at over $1 billion (74.5 billion rupees).
