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BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s co*petition regulator said on Wednesday that it had fined online hotel-booking co*panies MakeMyTrip Ltd and Goibibo and IPO-bound hotel chain Oyo a co*bined $47 million for anti-co*petitive behaviour.

The co*petition co*mission of India (CCI) has been investigating the co*panies since 2019 following allegations by a hotel body that MakeMyTrip gave special treatment to SoftBank-backed Oyo on its platform.

The CCI has directed MakeMyTrip and Goibibo (MMT-Go) to amend their market behaviour after fining them about $27 million. Oyo was fined $20 million.

OYO and MakeMyTrip were reviewing the CCI order, the co*panies said in separate statements issued late on Wednesday.

“OYO believes that our business practices and conduct co*ply with all applicable laws and will take all necessary steps to explain our position in the appropriate forums,” the co*pany said.

MakeMyTrip is a pure-play marketplace with no supply side leaning, a co*pany spokesperson said. “We anticipate that the order will have a negative impact on the level of co*petition and growth of the eco*merce market in India.”

The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) had alleged that agreements between Oyo and Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip to give preferential treatment to Oyo on its platform were restricting market access to co*petitors such as Fab Hotels and Treebo.

“The co*mission is of the view that the co*mercial arrangement between OYO and MMT-Go which led to the delisting of FabHotels, Treebo and the independent hotels, which were availing the services of these franchisors, was antico*petitive,” the CCI said in its order.

The FHRAI had also alleged that Oyo and MakeMyTrip were hurting co*petition by offering deep discounts and charging “exorbitant” fees from hotels.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Anil D’Silva)