Mobile retailers' on POCO: "It's time to demand the cancellation of their trading licence...," company responds

All India Mobile Retailers Association ( AIMRA ) has raised reportedly concerns about Xiaomi-owned smartphone brand POCO India’s business practices favouring e-commerce platforms and distribution of products through illegitimate channels, thus evading taxes. According to a report in Economic Times, AIMRA has sent a letter to the smartphone brand's country head Himanshu Tandon.

The mobile retailers association said, “With continuous feedback and hue and cry from our retailers It has come to our attention that POCO's strategy appears to favour exclusive online sales , a move that reeks of monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour .”

AIMRA’s National Joint General Secretary, Navneet Pathak in the letter said that the association has escalated this issue along with its fellow associations ORA and CAIT to the Finance, Commerce Ministry, and CCI to investigate POCO's operations. "It's time to demand the cancellation of their trading licence on continued anomalies and bypassing the law of land in India,” said the letter.

ETRetail claims to have seen a copy of these letters.
The letter further states that POCO favours exclusive online sales, and has established collusion with e-commerce platforms to distribute products through unauthorised channels, bypassing legitimate distributors. Along with its letter, AIMRA attached screenshots of POCO’s exclusive launches on e-commerce platform Flipkart and of aggregators in retail selling preactivated handsets.

“Before resorting to further measures involving regulatory authorities, we invite you to engage in discussions with us to find a mutually beneficial solution. This presents an opportunity for POCO to enhance its reputation and expand its global reach,” AIMRA said concluding the letter.

Responding to ETRetail's queries, POCO India's Country Head Tandon said, "POCO India is committed to offering customers a diverse range of purchasing options through legitimate channels, including a strategic partnership with Jio Mart Digital as our official offline distributor for mainline retail partners."

Reacting to POCO's official statement, AIMRA representatives from Delhi, Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and Rajasthan reportedly wrote to Tandon calling out the lack of supply of POCO products in the respective states. The letters took note of POCO's statement of having Jio Mart Digital (JMD) as an official distributor and highlighted that JMD is in the early stages of establishing a presence in these cities and its operations are not entirely conducive to the exclusive promotion of POCO products.