The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has on 12 March dismissed a petition filed by the trader’s body, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) against Competition Commission of India (CCI) approval to Walmart’s USD 16-billion acquisition of e-commerce major Flipkart.

A two-member bench of the appellate tribunal headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya stated that the plea by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) failed to establish its allegations against the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order, approving Walmart-Flipkart deal.

The appellate tribunal has also observed that CAIT failed to show that any major player in the relevant market will be eliminated due to the combination of Walmart and Flipkart.

The US supermarket Walmart picked up a 77 percent interest in Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018, and CCI has authorized the deal in August 2018. Nonetheless, CAIT suspected a limited group of sellers of paying for large revenue on Flipkart, and with Walmart moving in, the situation would escalate as Walmart’s products would be prioritized by favored sellers and Flipkart would offer discounts.

The Tribunal observed that the presence of Walmart is likely to add value to the Indian economy and that CCI has ‘specifically and rightly’ came to a finding, in absence of any evidence on record, that the proposed combination is not resulting in the elimination of any major player in the relevant market.

“No specific finding can be given against Flipkart in the present appeal. It is accordingly dismissed,” stated the appellate tribunal.