It will be interesting to see how Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani handles this fresh litigation
Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. It seems the legal battle between Amazon and Future Retail will last longer and foreign e-commerce giant has filed a fresh criminal complaint against Future Retail this week. This time Amazon has alleged that Future Retail is allowing the transfer of assets to its rival Reliance despite legal sanctions. According to a source, Amazon has filed a criminal proceedings against Future in a New Delhi court urging the court to order an investigation into the matter. Notably, for more than a year, Amazon and Future Group have been fighting against each other and it has stopped the sale of assets of Future's $3.4 billion to Reliance Industries.
This plan to launch new criminal court proceedings between Amazon and its Indian retail rivals Future Retail and Reliance, led by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will be watched by the nation and the world. The protracted battle over the Future of Asset is being seen as a battle for retail supremacy between Reliance and Amazon in India's fast-growing retail market. In order to stall the Future-Reliance deal, Amazon has been saying that Future violated the terms of the 2019 deal in which the US company invested $200 million in an Indian company's share. Debt-laden Future had earlier said that Amazon was unfairly interfering in its retail business.
During ongoing legal battle Amazon has got initial success as it has fully blocked future asset sales to Reliance since 2020. It has alleged that Future has breached certain clauses of contract, whereas India's second largest retailer Future has denied breaking any contract. Amazon's position has been upheld by a Singapore-based arbitrator and Indian courts. On the other hand, Reliance has started rebranding around 500 of Future's stores as its own outlets.
Reliance had earlier transferred leases of some of Future's major supermarkets to its name, but allowed Future to continue operating them. Sources said that after Future failed to pay the rent, Reliance has now started taking over them. Amazon alleges that Future concealed this information during the legal proceedings and transferred the lease of its stores to rival Reliance, while a Singapore-based arbitrator has withheld any transfer or settlement of the assets in the ongoing dispute. According to the source, this will be Amazon's last attempt to stall the deal. Future, Amazon and Reliance declined to comment on the matter.
