Amazon to end partnership with Catamaran Ventures from May 2022

Following harsh criticism from traders associations and politicians for unfair trade practices, leading e-commerce company Amazon has decided to discontinue its partnership with NR Narayana Murthy-owned Catamaran Ventures.

The two companies jointly run Prione Business Services whose wholly owned subsidiary Cloudtail India is one of Amazon's largest sellers in the country.

"The two partners today announced they have mutually decided to not continue their joint venture beyond the end of its current term," Amazon said in a statement on August 9.

Interestingly, the decision came soon after the Supreme Court of India allowed the Competition Commission of India (CII) to investigate Amazon and rival Flipkart for unfair trade practices.

Prione Business Services Pvt. Ltd had been running in India for the past 7 years and the joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022.

"Amazon and Catamaran entered into a JV in the early days of e-commerce in India with a shared vision of transforming hundreds of thousands of small businesses in a fast-changing digital world, by providing online capabilities enabling them to access customers both in India and globally," said Amit Agarwal, global senior vice president and country head.

The development comes at a time when the government is trying to address the burning issues of preferred vendors and online discounting which have marred the growth of offline retailers in India.