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1 February 2021 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The e-commerce titan led by Jeff Bezos is trying to stop the sale of a big-box retailer to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance. The spat centres on a disputed contract. An Amazon victory could cost thousands of jobs. The business itself may be less important than the message being sent.

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India’s Future Retail approached a tribunal to seek approval for its $3.4 billion asset sale to Reliance Industries, its lawyer told a court on Jan. 28.

U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon is seeking to block the sale, citing an agreement it claims it had with Future that restricted tycoon Kishore Biyani and his related entities from selling shares to Reliance.

Amazon won an emergency injunction against the deal in October in a Singapore arbitration. The arbitrator said Future’s deal with Reliance should be put on hold.

Reliance in August 2020 agreed to buy the retail, wholesale and supply chain businesses of Future for 247 billion rupees ($3.4 billion), including debt. The deal has been cleared by India’s competition commission.

India’s foreign investment rules prevent Amazon from directly investing in a multi-brand retailer, such as Future Retail, without government permission.

Context News

India’s Future Retail approached a tribunal to seek approval for its $3.4 billion asset sale to Reliance Industries, its lawyer told a court on Jan. 28.

Amazon won an emergency injunction against the deal in October in a Singapore arbitration. The arbitrator said Future’s deal with Reliance should be put on hold.

India’s foreign investment rules prevent Amazon from directly investing in a multi-brand retailer, such as Future Retail, without government permission.

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