Jeff Bezos, Narayana Murthy To End India Venture Amid Anti-Trust Probe

Jeff Bezos and Narayana Murthy have "mutually decided to not continue their joint venture beyond the end of its current term,"

Amazon.com Inc. is disbanding a controversial joint venture in India with billionaire Narayana Murthy, a potential setback for the e-commerce giant as the country's online market is projected to surge to $1 trillion. The seven-year-old joint venture, called Prione Business Services Pvt., will cease operating from mid-2022, the companies announced on Monday. The business, which began by helping merchants get online to sell their wares before becoming a dominant vendor itself, is owned by Jeff Bezos's Seattle-based behemoth and Catamaran Ventures LLP, the private investment firm of Infosys Ltd. co-founder Mr Murthy. The partners have "mutually decided to not continue their joint venture beyond the end of its current term," they said in a statement. The JV has enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online and enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, they said. Amazon has come under fire in India for business practices that small retailers contend are unfair and illegal. The Competition Commission of India started a probe last year into the company and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart after local retailers alleged the giants abused their dominance through deep discounts, exclusive tie-ups and favorable backing of certain vendors. On Monday, India's Supreme Court rejected petitions by Amazon and Flipkart to halt the probe, ruling on Monday that the antitrust investigation could proceed.