New Delhi: The Competition Commission has disposed of a complaint of unfair business practices against Swiggy.The ruling came on a complaint that alleged Swiggy charges unreasonable and unfair prices from the customers.
The informants had complained that Swiggy typically charges a commission on the total order bill amount, inclusive of GST, from partner restaurants.
Swiggy charges delivery fee from customers, which generally ranges from Rs 20- 100. At times, it also charges more based on a surge in delivery prices in times of high demand, rains, special occasions and midnight delivery.
They had also claimed that the rates charged by Swiggy through its website or app are much higher than the rates offered by the respective restaurants in their outlets, over and above the delivery charges.
The complaint claimed that customers are generally unaware of the rates charged by of a particular restaurant in offline mode and thus, cannot compare it with the rates displayed on Swiggy’s platform.
It also said Swiggy is charging prices higher than the prices charged by the respective restaurants for walk-in customers, without the knowledge of customers.
The complainant mentioned that Swiggy is India’s largest food-delivery platform.
On the allegations, Swiggy submitted that it only operates as an intermediary and the prices displayed on the platform are directly uploaded by its partner restaurants as the decision on pricing solely rest with them and Swiggy has no direct or indirect role to influence the prices on its platform.
With respect to dominance, Swiggy has claimed that it is not dominant in the relevant market.
Considering the submissions of Swiggy, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that allegations against Swiggy do not appear to be substantiated.
Regarding Swiggy’s submission that discrepancy in the rates is attributable to the partner restaurants and not to it, CCI said “it would be apposite for Swiggy to give sufficient disclosures on its platform that it is not involved in fixation of price of the products/menus of the restaurants on its platform, so as to allay misgivings, if any, in the minds of any stakeholders including the consumers.”
