Net neutrality: Flipkart on why they pulled out of Airtel Zero partnership

Official Statement From Flipkart

We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet. Over the past few days, there has been a great amount of debate, both internally and externally, on the topic of zero rating, and we have a deeper understanding of the implications. Based on this, we have decided on the following:

1. We will be walking away from the ongoing discussions with Airtel for their platform Airtel Zero.

2. We will be committing ourselves to the larger cause of Net Neutrality in India. We will be internally discussing over the next few days, the details of actions we will take to support the cause.

3. We will be working towards ensuring that the spirit of net neutrality is upheld and applied equally to all companies in India irrespective of the size or the service being offered and there is absolutely no discrimination whatsoever.

Flipkart's co-founder Sachin Bansal had earlier defended its plans on Twitter

When foreign companies do it in India - Innovation. Indians do it - Violation. #NetNeutralityDiscrimination?

— Sachin Bansal (@_sachinbansal) April 8, 2015