Emergency arbitration award is applicable: Amazon wins in Supreme Court

In a blow to retail pioneer Kishore Biyani’s $-3.4-billion bid to sell the assets of Future Retail Limited (FRL) to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure Group, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the October 25, 2020 interim award of the Emergency Arbitrator under the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) restraining FRL from going ahead with the deal.

A Bench of Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai set aside two judgments of the Delhi High Court Division Bench that had stayed the order of a Single Bench of the HC upholding the Emergency Arbitrator’s order.

Amazon — which had objected to the FRL-Reliance deal alleging breach of its earlier contract with FRL’s promoter firm — had approached the SC against the decisions of the HC Division Bench.