Online travel firms Make My Trip-Goibibo (MMT-Go) and hospitality services provider OYO were slapped with penalties totalling more than Rs 392 crore by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) today
The penalty, spelt out in a 131-page order, is for "unfair business practices".
As per the order, Make My Trip-Goibibo will pay a fine of Rs 223.48 crore, while OYO will pay Rs 168.88 crore.
The allegations are that MMT-Go "imposed a price parity in their agreements with hotel partners." Under these deals, hotels 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 found that MakeMyTrip accorded preferential treatment to OYO on its platform, which caused denial of market access to other companies.
The findings are results of a detailed investigation into the matter that was on since October 2019.
Besides the monetary fine, the CCI also directed MMT-Go to "suitably modify its agreements with hotels/chain hotels to remove/abandon the price and room availability parity obligations imposed by it on its hotel/chain hotel partners with respect to other OTAs (Online Travel Agencies)".
The regulator also has asked it to alter agreements to do away with certain exclusivity conditions.
The CCI order said, "MMT-Go is directed to provide access to its platform on a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory basis to the hotels/chain hotels, by formulating the platforms' listing terms and conditions in an objective manner."
It may be mentioned here that MMT acquired Ibibo Group Holding in 2017. MMT operates its hotels and packages business through MMT India under the brand name MakeMyTrip, while Ibibo India operates under the brand name Goibibo.
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