Future Retail deal: ED probing Amazon over FEMA violations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case of alleged foreign exchange violations against Amazon over its deal with Future Retail and started a probe under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

It comes after the ED’s receipt of a reference from the Commerce Ministry seeking “necessary action” against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart on suspicion of alleged FDI violations. An observation in this regard had also been made recently by the Delhi High Court in the case of Amazon.

The HC had said the attempt by Amazon to control Future Retail via a conflation of agreements it has with an unlisted unit of the Indian company will be considered as violative of FEMA and foreign direct investment (FDI) rules.