The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday, October 19, imposed penalties of Rs 223.48 crore and Rs 168.88 crore on online travel services firm Make My Trip-Goibibo (MMT-Go) and hospitality and travel-tech firm OYO respectively for unfair business practices.
It was alleged that MMT-Go imposed a price parity in their agreements with hotel partners. Under such pacts, the hotel partners are not allowed to sell their rooms on any other platform or on its own online portal at a price below the price at which it is being offered on the two entities' platforms.
It was also alleged that MMT-Go gave preferential treatment to OYO on its platform, further leading to a denial of market access to other players.
The commission directed MMT-Go to modify its agreements with hotels, to remove the price and room availability parity obligations imposed by it with respect to other online travel agents. Also, the commission asked MMT-Go to modify its agreement with hotels to remove the exclusivity conditions.
Further, it directed MMT-Go to provide access to its platform on a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory basis to the hotels by formulating the platforms’ listing terms and conditions in an objective manner and notifying all its hotels about the modifications.
Responding to the CCI order, the OYO spokesperson said, "We have received a copy of the CCI order and are reviewing it in detail. Most OYO customers book directly through our app, website, and other channels in India. We continue to work with all OTAs as distribution partners.
OYO believes that our business practices and conduct comply with all applicable laws and will take all necessary steps to explain our position in the appropriate forums."
First Published: Oct 19, 2022 7:35 PM IST
