Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 13: Amazon’s appeal against the decision of fair trade regulator CCI to suspend clearance for the e-commerce giant’s deal with Future Coupons was dismissed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday.
Justices M Venugopal and Ashok Kumar Mishra of a two-judge bench maintained the findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and ordered Amazon to pay a penalty of Rs 200 crore to the fair trade regulator within 45 days starting Monday.
CCI had halted its clearance of Amazon’s agreement to acquire a 49 percent share in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd in December of last year (FCPL).
Amazon had withheld information when obtaining permissions for the transaction at the time, according to the regulator, who also fined the business 202 crore. Future Retail Ltd is promoted by FCPL (FRL).
Amazon had objected to FRL’s sale of assets to Reliance Retail as part of a 24.713-crore agreement that has now been cancelled.
The e-commerce behemoth objected to the sale because of a 2019 transaction in which it acquired a 49 percent share in FCPL.
The NCLAT’s hearing on Amazon’s request was completed in April of this year. Before the registrar, all parties had filed updated notes of submissions with necessary citations.
Apart from Amazon’s appeal, the appellate bench had deferred its decision on two other petitions filed in the case by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation on Monday (AICPDF).
FRL was one of 19 group firms involved in retail, wholesale, transportation, and warehousing that were planned to be transferred to Reliance Retail as part of a $24.713 billion agreement announced in August 2020.
In April, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd called off the agreement.
