ED raids 16 locations as part of a crackdown on Amazon and Flipkart dealers.

In connection with a FEMA investigation, the ED raided 15–16 locations owned by Amazon and Flipkart merchants.

According to official sources, the Enforcement Directorate searched a few merchants on e-commerce behemoths like Amazon and Flipkart on Thursday as part of a FEMA investigation. According to sources who spoke to Hindustan Times, the central agency raided at least 15 to 16 of these merchants' premises.

According to authorities who spoke to HT, antitrust investigations by the Competition Commission of India have revealed that Amazon and Flipkart have broken local competition laws by favoring some sellers, giving priority to specific listings, and drastically lowering product prices, harming other businesses.

According to sources who spoke to PTI, the move has to do with the financial transactions carried out by some of the "preferred" sellers and suppliers who conduct business on e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Flipkart.

In connection with this investigation, which is being carried out in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), many locations in Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Bengaluru (Karnataka) were searched.

The ED is looking into possible abuses of e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Flipkart by sellers who may have participated in illicit financial operations, most likely engaging in illicit financial practices.

Both of the e-commerce behemoths have been under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate agency for years for allegedly evading foreign investment restrictions that tightly regulate multi-brand retail and limit these businesses to running a marketplace for merchants.

On Thursday, the first government source told Reuters that it was searching the most current findings of the antitrust body's just finished inquiry of the two businesses.
According to the August Amazon and Flipkart antitrust investigation reports, which Reuters has seen but which are not publicly available, the platforms "had end-to-end control over the inventory and the sellers are just name lending enterprises."