The Food Fight! Why restaurant owners are asking CCI to probe Swiggy and Zomato

Unfair practices, that the allegation against Zomato, Swiggy owing to which National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has asked anti-trust body CCI to conduct a detailed probe into the issue.

Restaurant owners are accusing Zomata, Swiggy of bundling of services, data masking and charging of exorbitant commissions and deep discounting.

"We have been in constant dialogue with the food service aggregators over last 15-18 months to resolve critical issues impacting the sector. However, despite all our efforts, we have unfortunately not been able to resolve them with the aggregators. The needle hasn’t moved much on these issues," NRAI President Anurag Katriar was quoted as saying.

Reports indicate that restaurant owners have been pushed by Zomato and Swiggy in recent weeks to opt for discounting models like “Deal of the Day” and “Everything at one price”.

During the pandemic, NRAI said the magnitude of anti-competitive practices by Zomato and Swiggy had increased manifold and despite discussions.