- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
US E-COMMERCE giant Amazon has told the Competition Commission of India, the country’s antitrust body, that revoking its 2019 deal with Future Group would send a wrong signal to foreign investors and allow local retail behemoth Reliance to “further restrict competition”, Reuters reported citing a legal document.
The CCI is reviewing its prior approval of the $200 million (£151 million) investment deal that Amazon made in a Future unit two years ago amid allegations that the e-commerce giant hid facts when it sought nod for the transaction.
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The review took place after a complaint from Future, Amazon’s now-estranged partner. The two companies have locked horns in a dispute since last year with Amazon using the terms of its toehold investment in 2019 successfully to block debt-laden Future from selling retail assets to Reliance Industries for $3.4 billion (£2.5 billion).
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Whatever is in store for the $200 million deal, the outcome will impact India’s retail sector in a significant way, Reuters added.
It said if Amazon prevailed, it will delay Reliance’s plan to acquire Future at a time when it is making rapid expansion into the e-commerce sector.
But if the 2019 deal proved to be void, it could make it convenient for Reliance to shut the Future deal, hitting Amazon’s retail ambitions, Reuters reported citing informed sources.
In a confidential filing on December 12, Amazon said the CCI’s approval revocation is “bound to send a message to foreign investors that the economy and regulatory landscape of India are yet not developed enough to provide stability and certainty to foreign investments”.
In its 60-page submission, Amazon also said that Future’s aim “to unwind the investment” to allow Reliance to consolidate its position “will further restrict competition in the Indian retail market”.
The Future-Reliance deal has been on hold as Amazon received favourable interim rulings from a Singapore arbitrator as well as Indian courts. Future denies there was any wrongdoing and the dispute continues to be heard in several forums.
In June, the CCI said Amazon concealed factual aspects of the transaction as it did not reveal its strategic interest in Future Retail while seeking approvals.
In its December 12 response, Amazon said no information was hidden from the CCI and lawyers representing the Future Group “had vetted and approved” all submissions.
“There was no concealment of any material information,” Amazon’s filing said, as per the Reuters report.
The CCI’s 2019 approval order states its decision “shall stand revoked if, at any time, the information provided” is found to be incorrect. But Amazon said in its submission that the CCI has now such power adding that its approval order under Indian laws is not conditional.
