Amazon and Cloudtail, its parent company, have announced that they will not continue their joint venture beyond May 2022. This statement was made Monday after India's top court ordered that Amazon and Walmarts Flipkart face antitrust investigations in South Asia.Billionaire N.R. Billionaire N.R. In 2019, the joint venture changed its ownership structure in response to India's regulatory changes. More information will follow.This development comes after India's Supreme Court ruled earlier today that Flipkart and Amazon must face antitrust investigations in India.Indian watchdog, the Competition Commission of India, ordered an investigation last year into the firms for allegedly promoting selected sellers (those in the ownership of a stake) via their e-commerce platforms. Also, using business practices that suppress competition.The two companies said Monday that Cloudtail registered under Prione Business services enabled more than 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs go online, and 4 million merchants had digital payment options. They claimed that the joint venture helped small and medium-sized businesses in India access millions of customers.Cloudtail is India's largest seller on Amazon. Cloudtail is also a shareholder in Appario Retail, its joint venture with Patni Group.M.D. said that as our JV with Amazon nears its end, I reflect back on the successful partnership that brought the power of digitization to hundreds of thousands of SMBs in big and small towns. Ranganath, President, Catamaran in a statement.They did not explain why they ended their joint venture.Amazon and other ecommerce companies in India are prohibited from selling products directly to customers or holding inventory. This has been circumvented by firms operating through joint ventures with local inventory-holding companies.In late 2018, India closed this loophole. This was widely regarded as the largest blowback against the American company in India at that time. Flipkart, owned by Walmart, and Amazon scrambled for hundreds of thousands of products to be removed from their stores. They also made more indirect investments in affiliate firms.India introduced tougher ecommerce rules in June. This includes a ban on Amazon, Flipkart, and other ecommerce players, from operating their own private labels / in-house brands. E-commerce companies are required to ensure that no related or associated parties are listed on their platforms for direct sales to customers.In the early days of ecommerce in India, Amazon and Catamaran formed a joint venture. They shared a vision of helping hundreds of thousands transform small businesses by offering online capabilities that enable them to reach customers globally.
