Amazon asks CCI to revoke $3.4-billion Future-RIL deal approval

US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ashok Kumar Gupta, chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI) and other top executives and asked the country’s antitrust regulator to revoke its approval for Future Retail’s (FRL) $3.4 billion sale of retail assets to Reliance. Amazon said the CCI Approval for the Impugned Transaction was “illegally obtained” and is a nullity in the eyes of law. The letter has also been sent to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Rao Inderjit Singh,Minister of State, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

In Aug 2019, Amazon acquired a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons, the promoter entity of Future Retail, for about Rs 1,500 crore. Amazon is now fighting a legal battle with FRL to stop the Kishore Biyani-led retailer’s $3.4 billion deal with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).