In a setback to the Future Group, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition filed by Future Group to stop the Singapore tribunal’s arbitration proceedings in its dispute with e-retailer Amazon in the wake of an anti-trust order passed in December 2021.
The Future Group urged the Delhi High Court to hear the case today itself citing the urgency in its plea considering the arbitration tribunal’s plan to begin the final hearing in the dispute from January 5.
The High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Amit Bansal heard arguments from both the companies before reserving its order. On January 3, the case was heard for about three hours owing to the urgency in the case cited.
In the wake of Competition Commission of India’s suspension of the approval for Amazon-Future 2019 deal between the two entities, the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group approached the Delhi High Court seeking termination of ongoing arbitration proceedings with Amazon.
A fine of ₹202 crore was imposed by the CCI on the American e-commerce giant for allegedly hiding facts and making false statements while seeking regulatory approvals.
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The counsel for Future Group made a fervent case for the arbitration to be terminated calling it a defiance of Indian law and defiance of the CCI order. The Amazon-Future tug of war began back in 2020 when American e-commerce giant Amazon invoked arbitration after Future Retail announced its asset sale deal with Reliance Retail, Reliance Industries’ wholly owned subsidiary.
Amazon’s claim: The deal with Future Coupon private limited prevented Future Retail from entering into agreements with certain entities including the Mukesh Ambani group. Future Retail claimed that it was not bound by the deal between Amazon and Future Retail’s promoter firm.