The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will meet with Amazon and Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) in January next year in connection with the fair trade watchdog’s clearance of the e-commerce giant’s investment in FCPL, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Future Retail Ltd‘s independent directors have petitioned the CCI to revoke the approval accorded to the US conglomerate’s 2019 investments in FCPL, Future Retail Ltd’s (FRL) promoter group business. FRL stated in a regulatory statement on Monday that FCPL had informed the firm of CCI’s message.
“…FCPL’s lawyers have received a communication from the CCI dated November 15, 2021, informing FCPL that CCI, after considering FCPL’s application for a personal hearing, has decided to hear Amazon.com NV Investment Holding LLC (Amazon) and FCPL on January 4, 2022, in connection with CCI’s approval…for Amazon’s investment in FCPL,” it says. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday approved Future Retail Ltd’s asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), in a setback for Amazon.com Inc., which had approached the anti-trust watchdog to halt the ₹24,700 crore deal. On November 14, FRL’s independent directors sent a letter to the CCI, citing internal Amazon correspondence to prove Amazon’s conflicting assertions before courts and the anti-monopoly authority, and requesting that the Amazon-Future Coupons transaction be revoked.
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They accused Amazon of providing “totally inconsistent information” that was “contradictory” to Amazon’s own internal communications about the US giant’s 2019 investments in FRL’s promoter firm. Earlier last month, FRL’s independent directors issued a similar letter. Amazon is opposing Future Group’s Rs 24,713 crore contract to sell the retail and wholesale businesses, as well as the logistics and warehousing company, to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, announced last year.
