In yet another twist in the ongoing convoluted and messy battle between the Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail and Amazon, the Delhi High Court today junked a plea by the former to declare the arbitration proceedings in Singapore, which passed a judgement in favor of Amazon, as illegal.
The High Court ruling can be seen as a setback to the financially-starved Future Group as Amazon is now expected to continue its arguments with the arbitration panel in Singapore.
The Future Group had knocked on the doors of the High Court after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had last month revoked its clearance to Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future Coupons, a subsidiary of Future Group.
Amazon, for its part, is seeking to strike down Reliance Industries' Rs 24,713 crore deal to buy the retail assets as well as warehouses of the Future Group.
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It is a confusion wrapped in a conundrum
The case is a legal maze as it is being fought on multiple fronts.
The three parties --- Amazon, Reliance and Future --- are putting a spirited fight with reason. For, at stake is several thousands of crores of rupees and the bragging rights in the highly lucrative in Indian retail and e-retail market.
Amazon was put on the backfoot last month after the CCI ruled that Amazon had concealed certain relevant information and also imposed a Rs 202 crore penalty on the e-commerce major for not furnishing true and complete details of the deal.
Even as Amazon has appealed that CCI order, it continues to fight the case at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) that had earlier struck down the Future-Reliance deal to be invalid.
But based on CCI's order, the Future Group wanted the High Court to invalidate the verdict of the Singapore panel. It may be recalled that in this confusion-filled tale, the Supreme Court in August 2021 had upheld the emergency award given to Amazon by SIAC.
Amazon had bought 49% stake in Future coupon in 2019, which gave it access to 3% stake in Future Retail. As per Amazon’s agreement with Future Group when the deal was signed, the Biyani-led company could not sell any of its retail assets. The Future Group, however, later sold its retail assets to Reliance under financial duress.
The Future Group, which needs the money to prevent liquidation of its assets, has said it is not a party to the agreement under which Amazon has invoked arbitration proceedings.
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