Amazon’s plea vs CCI order in NCLAT on February 14
NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will hear US e-commerce major Amazon’s plea seeking a stay on the Competition Commission of India’s order, which had suspended the 2019 approval for Amazon’s deal to acquire a 49% stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), on 14th February.
Due to the constraint of time, the tribunal will take up the matter on 14 February now, Justice M Venugopal said.“The registry is directed to list on February 14 for hearing,” said the NCLAT bench. The tribunal was also directed to list the appeals by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the All India Consumer Product Distributors Federation on 14th February as well.
In December 2021, the anti-trust agency had put into “abeyance” its 2019 approval for Amazon’s investment in Future Coupons (FCPL) and imposed a Rs 202 crore fine on the US company as it found that Amazon had withheld certain information concerning Amazon’s strategic interest in Future Retail. On January 9, Amazon approached the NCLAT, challenging the CCI order.
The dispute between Future group and Amazon started when the e-commerce giant dragged the latter to arbitration at SIAC in October 2020. Amazon argued that FRL violated their contract by entering into a deal for the sale of its assets to Reliance Retail on a slump sale basis for Rs 24,500 cr.