SC upholds Singapore court order on Future-RIL deal

In a major victory for e-commerce giant Amazon, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Future Group is bound by an emergency award that restrains it from a $3.4 billion sale of retail assets to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

A bench of justices Rohinton F Nariman and BR Gavai held that the Singapore-based Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award, passed in October 2020, was enforceable under Indian arbitration law, and will bind the Kishore Biyani-led group of companies to pertinent agreements with Amazon.

“A party cannot be heard to say, after it participates in an Emergency Award proceeding, having agreed to institutional rules made in that regard, that thereafter it will not be bound by an Emergency Arbitrator’s ruling,”