Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: On July 1, 2021, NRAI contacted CCI, stating a number of concerns. These arose after a number of its partner restaurants around the country had to close their doors “due to onerous restrictions imposed” by Zomato and Swiggy.
The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) said on Monday that it has submitted “additional information with evidence” against alleged anti-competitive practices of Swiggy and IPO-bound Zomato to the country’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
NRAI said in a statement that the overall expense burden has been passed to the restaurants by the online platforms. This has put many of their partners in an extremely stressful situation. They have been pushed to the point of considering shutting down.
The eateries are losing money since they can’t cover their bills, but because of the lockdown restrictions and attitudes, they have had to rely on Zomato and Swiggy. According to NRAI, these food aggregators have threatened to remove eateries from their lists if they do not preserve pricing parity.
Prakul Kumar, NRAI Secretary commented on the issue to Financial Express Online. He said, “ “We have filed the information with CCI and the response and action are something that CCI will take. We have previously engaged with Zomato and Swiggy multiple times over the issues that are there on the table with CCI now.
There is certainly the interest of the restaurants here and that’s why we have been engaging with these companies and moved CCI. We have recently suggested alternatives like order direct for restaurants to serve customers directly,” He also mentioned that they have lately offered alternatives like order direct for eateries to serve clients directly.
Zomato however did not comment on the issue. Swiggy too declined
On July 1, 2021, NRAI contacted CCI, expressing concern about a number of its partner restaurants around the country that had to close their doors “due to onerous restrictions imposed” by the two food delivery firms.
Price parity agreements; pressuring restaurant partners to give discounts to maintain a suitable listing, and exclusivity of listed eateries were all challenges raised with CCI.
Many members have shared personal accounts of food aggregators abusing their authority.
This prompted us to file some more material with the CCI in order to ensure that our ongoing efforts to protect the F&B industry’s interests will yield fruit, resulting in a level playing field for all players in the marketplace,” said Anurag Katriar, President, NRAI.
