The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in New Delhi on Wednesday issued a notice to ride-hailing platform Uber Technologies Inc. and the Competition Commission of India in response to an appeal filed by radio taxi company Meru.
Meru had approached the CCI in 2015, alleging that Uber was engaged in anti-competitive practices between 2014 and 2017.
The company submitted before the appellate tribunal that Uber had offered hefty discounts to its customers that caused a negative impact on its rivals. It was also alleged that Uber's competitors have gone out of business or are on the verge of shutdown because of such practices.
The bench noted that between 2014 and 2017, the cab aggregator platform was a fairly new company; in the beginning, it was acceptable for it to offer discounts. However, at the request of Meru and the contention that the discount practice was affecting other platforms, the bench issued a notice to Uber and the CCI.
Previously, Meru had submitted before the CCI that Uber was indulging in unfair practices to beat its competitors and claimed that the company had many more resources than other taxi services in the Delhi-NCR region. Meru had claimed that Uber was making customers depend on it through cheap prices and discounts, leading to it occupying a top-dog position in the market.
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