Amazon Vs Future Retail: Kishore Biyani-led company asks court to declare Singapore arbitration illegal

• The development comes after the CCI revoked its clearance to Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future Coupons.
• The deal had set ground for Amazon’s disapproval of Reliance Industries- Future Group deal.
• The Supreme Court of India in August 2021 upheld the emergency award given to Amazon by the Singapore arbitrator.

Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail has asked the Delhi High Court to declare the arbitration proceedings in Singapore, which passed judgement in favour of Amazon, as illegal, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

The development comes after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) revoked its clearance to Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future Coupons, a subsidiary of Future Group. The deal had set ground for Amazon’s disapproval of Reliance Industries' ₹24,715 crore deal to buy the retail assets as well as warehouses of the Future Group.

Notably, Amazon had bought 49% stake in Future coupon in 2019, which gave it access to gnarly 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 to 11 companies including Reliance.

Future Group, however, went ahead to sell its retail assets to Amazon.

The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) considered the Future-Reliance deal to be invalid on these grounds. Now that the CCI has revoked its clearance to the two-year-old deal, Future Retail seeks Delhi High Court’s intervention to invalidate the Singapore-based arbitrator’s verdict.

The Supreme Court of India in August 2021 upheld the emergency award given to Amazon by SIAC. The "continuation of the entire arbitration proceedings is a perpetuation of illegality," Future Retail was quoted as saying by the latest Reuters’ report.

Business Insider has reached out to Amazon and Future Group for comments on the report.

Last month, Amazon had reportedly told SIAC that the suspension of the 2019 deal does not mean that the transaction between the two companies is void, as the CCI has given the ecommerce giant the chance to reapply the deal.

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