Zomato, CCI is given knowledge of the Delhi High Court on the plea of the restaurant body in Antitrust Investigation | Company Business News
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the food delivery platform Zomato on a plea submitted by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), which disperses the exclusion of the confidential ring that gives limited access to documents in the antitrust body. Nrai also requested the court to review the company’s confidentiality claims. A bank led by Justice Sachin Datta marked the petition with a similar plea about Swiggy, in which the court announced in November 2024. Both issues will now be heard together on April 23. During the hearing, the senior Zomato lawyer argued that since NRAI contains competitive entities, certain sensitive commercial information cannot be disclosed to the association. Dispatch of confidentiality access The confidentiality ring – established by the CCI in April 2022 – proposed representatives of parties limited to commercial sensitive data to ensure fair investigation during antitrust performance. Nrai was initially included in the ring, but was later excluded by a CCI command of October 14, 2024, which asked the latest petition. The ongoing legal strike stems from a 2021 complaint filed by NRAI, and accuses Zomato and swiggy of competitive behavior. These allegations include the commission of using their delivery services, hiding customers -information of partner restaurants, setting up high commissions by benefiting restrictive agreements and their own or covenant cloud kitchens. The CCI, which found a prima facie case, launched a full-fledged investigation in 2022. After a year-long investigation, the Director General submitted a confidential report in October 2023, based on extensive data obtained from both platforms. In April 2024, the CCI NRAI allowed limited access to the report, subject to strict confidentiality measures and a requirement to destroy the data after the proceedings were closed. However, Zomato and Swiggy have disputed the CCI’s Richtly in the Karnataka High Court, arguing that the disclosure – even under confidentiality measures – could cause irreparable commercial damage. They called up section 57 of the Competition Act, 2002, and Regulation 35 of the CCI (General) Regulations, 2009, which relates to the treatment of confidential information. In June 2024, the Karnataka High Court ordered the CCI to re -visit its decision. This led to the order of October 2024 that formally excluded Nrai from the confidentiality ring, which caused the current litigation – which is now focused on Zomato. According to a report by brokerage firm Motilal Oswal, Zomato has 58% of India’s food deliverance market, while the recently listed competitor swiggy ordered the remaining 42%. First published: 21 Apr 2025, 06:28 pm Ist