CCI approves Amazon’s acquisition of Catamaran’s stake in Cloudtail parent

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday approved Amazon's acquisition of Catamaran Ventures' entire stake in Prione Business Services Pvt Ltd. Prione Business Services houses Cloudtail, one of Amazon.in's largest sellers.

The CCI, via a tweet, said, "Commission approves acquisition of Prione Business Services Private Limited by Amazon Asia-Pacific Resources Private Limited."

Cloudtail was formed when Amazon entered a joint venture with an entity formed by one of India's most famous tech moguls, N.R. Narayana Murthy, which began offering goods on Amazon.in after it was set up in August 2014.

However, last year in August, a joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran that controlled Cloudtail was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022, but the two sides said in a joint statement they had mutually decided not to extend it beyond that date.

Besides, Cloudtail had been controversial, with Indian brick-and-mortar retailers for years accusing Amazon of giving it preferential treatment which hurt smaller retailers.

Earlier in January this year, domestic traders' body CAIT had filed a petition before the anti-trust agency to block the transaction that has been entered into by Amazon where it will acquire 100 per cent shareholding in Cloudtail.

The petition provided evidence to show Cloudtail charges less fees/ commission and is a preferential seller on the platform, and with its 100 per cent acquisition, Amazon will cause an adverse effect on the market.

"CAIT has today filed a petition before the Competition Commission of India seeking to block the transaction which has been entered into by Amazon where they will acquire 100 per cent shareholding in Cloudtail," it had added.

Cloudtail, in which Amazon holds 24 per cent stake along with Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures (76 per cent), saw its net profit rise by 171 per cent year-on-year to Rs 183 crore in FY21.