Amazon Gets Temporary Relief From 200 Crore Penalty

Amazon gets interim relief, through Supreme Court’s order, from the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) of Rs. 200 crore for the Future Coupons case.

The Apex Court has stated that no coercive measures should be taken against the tech giant until the next court hearing on 7th July. The order was brought into the public forefront on Wednesday.

The recovery of the penalty amount would also be undertaken following the next proceeding as mentioned by the top court.

The bitter battle going on between Amazon and Future Group since the last one year has witnessed a dangerous penalty imposition on the online shopping platform.

The CCI had charged the Amazon.com NV Holdings LLC of 200 crores after the e-commerce company failed to communicate its strategic delight in Future Retail.

The ruling was levied in December 2021 and the tech giant was directed to deposit the fine within 45 days from the notice given by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on 13th June 2022.

The Jeff Bezos-owned American business pretended to be interested to invest in the Future Coupons. Howbeit, the secret desire of the world’s largest online retailer was to step into the Indian retail market through the Future Retail, for which it chose to invest in the Future Coupons.

The Future group-owned Mumbai based Future Retail Ltd. owns the Big Bazaar chain of large and small format stores all across the Indian subcontinent. With its lifestyle and value segments, the entity aims to put forward the Indian consumer market with innovative and quality products at affordable prices.

Through the Amazon-Future Group deal, the largest internet-based store planned to build a foothold in the retail business of India. Thus, Amazon.com became the sole online provider of the Future Group brands.

Nonetheless, the CCI mentioned that this hidden agenda of the online marketplace was not adequately disclosed while the deal was being initiated in 2019.

The e-commerce retail store had also suppressed much information from the regulatory authority while seeking their approval in the Amazon-Future Group deal.

This led them to cancel out the finalized deal between the two parties in 2021, after a complaint received from Future Group’s part.

Moreover, Amazon had not bothered to keep the competition regulator updated about its shareholder agreement with the Future Retail at 49 per cent stakes against the provisions mentioned under CCI Law.

The American web services filed an Interim Application (IA) against NCLAT’s decision in September 2022 with the Supreme Court of India. NCLAT had turned down Amazon’s plea to challenge the order given out by CCI to keep the Amazon-Future Group deal on hold.

Now, after the fresh recovery notice was issued to Earth’s most customer-centric e-commerce giant on 25th April 2023 by CCI, Amazon.com sought a stay from the Supreme Court, in dispute with NCLAT’s ruling.

A bench of Justices including Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari granted temporary relief to the tech giant with a restraint order on CCI, until the next hearing, declaring that no forceful action would be taken against Amazon.

Gopal Subramanium, a Senior advocate, who represented the e-commerce online shopping store along with Shyam Divan, brought into notice the IA filed by the company against NCLAT’s decision, during the court hearing which took place recently.

The regulatory authority had appointed N Venkatraman, the additional solicitor general, to take a stand on the matter from their end.

The American e-commerce giant also showed inconsistencies in the documents and pleadings submitted before the Delhi High Court, Singapore Arbitral Tribunal and the Supreme Court.

Beyond everything, the future of the Future Group is still in disputed hands between the Kishore Biyani-controlled Amazon and the Ambani-owned Fortune Global 500 company the Reliance Industries.

For the nonce, the tussle due to differences in corporate values and business strategies came to a halt after Supreme Court ruled in favor of Amazon.com on May 8.

Proofread & Published By Naveenika Chauhan