Despite the NRAI's allegations that the online delivery platforms charge high commissions and delay payments, Zomato and Swiggy continue to attract investors. The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) filed additional information with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) regarding the alleged anti-competitive practices of Zomato and Swiggy, a press release stated. The association represents over 5 lakh restaurants across the country. Why this matters? NRAI and food aggregators have been going back and forth for over 18 months now, but restaurants appear to remain unsatisfied with the responses from the aggregators. The latest filing is a follow-up to the July 1 complaint filed by NRAI asking CCI to investigate the “inherently anti-competitive practices” of the two online food-delivery platforms. The issues that NRAI has asked CCI to probe include bundling of services, data masking, exorbitant commissions, deep discounting, price parity agreements, violation of platform neutrality, lack of transparency, vertical integration, and exclusivity of listed restaurants. The government on June 21 proposed amendments to the existing Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, covering food delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy. The amendments contain provisions that might address many of the concerns raised by NRAI. What additional info has been submitted? Since the July 1 complaint, restaurants "have come forward and given us [NRAI] more evidence to show how Zomato and Swiggy have used their market power, especially during the pandemic, to impose terms which the restaurants have no choice but to accept," the press release stated. "This prompted us to file some additional information with the CCI to…
