The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cancelled the approval for approval of Amazon's investment in Future Coupons. Not only this, but CCI has also imposed a heavy fine of Rs 200 crore on US giant Amazon. The CCI was hearing a complaint filed by Future Coupons, through which Future Coupons was hoping to revoke the approval of Amazon's investment in the Future Group.
The CCI has said in its order that now the deal must be re-evaluated. Amazon has been ordered to re-file Form-2 within 60 days with full details. The CCI also accused Amazon of making false statements. The CCI has issued a 57-page order in the Amazon-Future deal case.
Earlier on November 16, the Delhi High Court had directed the CCI to quash the approval granted to the American company in the Amazon Futures Coupons deal case. The CCI was given two weeks to do so. Earlier, CAIT had also filed a PIL against CCI, stating that it had issued a show-cause notice to Amazon in June itself, but has not given any decision on the same.
The independent directors of Future Retail Limited had also filed a petition with the CCI sometime back. Under this, a request was made by Amazon to cancel the approval given for investment in future coupons in 2019. He had accused Amazon of giving wrong information while seeking approval from the CCI.
The dispute between Amazon, Future Retail and Reliance has been going on for several months. This controversy has arisen ever since Reliance Retail bought Future Retail. Future Group signed a deal to sell its retail, warehousing and logistics business to Reliance Industries for about Rs 24,000 crore. Objecting to the deal, Amazon had said that it had bought a 49% stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), the promoter company of Future Retail, in August last year. In this deal, Amazon has got the right to first ask about investing in the Future Group. Along with this, after a period of three to 10 years, it has also got the right to buy a stake in the group's flagship company Future Retail. Controversy is still going on regarding the same matter.