Amazon India on Friday filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s ruling that upheld the Competition Commission of India’s order suspending the US giant’s investment in Future Group.
The top court may list the matter for hearing next week, a person privy to the development said.
This comes after the NCLAT on 13 June upheld the CCI order passed on 17 December pertaining to non-disclosures by the US giant. The appellate body also directed the company to deposit ₹200 crore as a penalty within 45 days.
The tribunal in its order held that Amazon had failed to make fair, frank and forthright disclosures pertaining to the 2019 deal with Future Group. The tribunal agreed with CCI’s view and directed Amazon to deposit ₹200 crores as a penalty.
In January, Amazon Holdings NV had moved the NCLAT against the CCI order where the competition authority had put the approval for the Amazon and Future coupons deal in abeyance.
The antitrust watchdog fined Amazon ₹200 crore for allegedly misrepresenting and suppressing information while seeking regulatory approval in 2019 to buy a stake in Future Coupons.
According to CCI’s December order, disclosing significant facts and particulars is critical because they allow the commission to understand the commercial and economic dimensions of the merger and determine an appropriate framework for assessing the matter. The watchdog also said that the misleading submissions, false statements, omissions, and suppression of material particulars, facts, and documents have denied and disabled the commission from assessing the effects of the actual combination, with a particular focus on the actual intended objectives.
The move follows a Delhi High Court judgement on 5 January this year that suspended Amazon’s arbitration proceedings in Singapore against estranged partner Future Group for contract violations.
The ongoing legal tussle between Amazon and Future Group is over the sale of Future’s retail assets to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. The proposed asset sale deal is worth ₹24,713 crores entered between Future and Reliance in August 2020. RIL called off the deal in April this year since it could not get necessary approvals from the lenders of Future.
The deal was opposed by Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC arguing that its investment of ₹1,400 crores in Future Coupons, which is one of promoters of Future Retail, allows it block asset sale to Amazon’s competitors.
Following this, Future Group went to CCI to revoke the approval given for its 2019 deal with Amazon.
The NCLT has recently admitted an insolvency petition filed by the Bank of India against Future Retail for default in payments.
The US giant had filed an intervention application before the Mumbai-NCLT in an attempt to restrict the banks from disposing or alienating Future Group’s assets. The tribunal, however, has rejected Amazon’s petition calling it baseless.
