India: Uber refutes allegation of predatory pricing in Supreme Court

Multinational cab aggregator Uber refuted the allegations levelled by its Indian rival Meru for resorting to unfair trade practices including predatory pricing and pleaded the Supreme Court on Wednesday to quash Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) order directing a probe against it.

Appearing before a bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, Uber’s counsel Kapil Sibal contended that the company was not a dominant player in online transportation network sector and there was no possibility of the company misusing its position as a market leader. He said that Ola has greater market share in comparison to Uber.

Uber approached the apex court challenging the order passed by the tribunal which had on on December 7 directed the fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India to conduct a fresh probe against it for allegedly indulging in unfair practices.

The tribunal had passed the order on a plea of Meru Travels Solution accusing the multi-national company of resorting to abusive practices with an intent to establish its monopoly and eliminate other competitors by granting huge discounts and incentives to its customers.

Challenging the tribunal’s verdict, Uber told the apex court that the order was illegal and suffering from “jurisdictional flaw” as the tribunal itself had come to the conclusion there was prima facie nothing against it.

Full Content: India News

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