Future-Amazon dispute : Caveat petition filed by both in Delhi High Court
New Delhi: The dispute between Future Group and e-commerce company Amazon has reached Delhi High Court after Future Group signed a deal of Rs 24,713 crore with Reliance Group. The two companies have filed separate caveat petitions in the court so that only one side in the case is not heard and delivered.
Kishore Biyani-led Future Group filed the caveat petition on November 2 in the Delhi High Court. Sources informed that Amazon has also filed the same petition. However, Amazon declined to comment on this. In fact, the entire case related to the Future Group’s sale of its retail and wholesale business to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, and the logistics and warehousing business of Future Enterprises Ltd in August.
Taking objection to the deal, Amazon says that it bought a 49 percent stake in Future Retail’s promoter firm, FCPL, in August last year. In this deal, Amazon has got the right to first ask about investing in the Future Group. Also, after a period of three to 10 years, it has also got the right to buy a stake in the group’s flagship company Future Retail.
FCPL has a 7.3 percent stake in Future Retail. Future Retail operates more than 1500 retail stores across the country, including Big Bazaar, while Future Group has signed a deal of Rs 24,713 crore with Reliance. Currently, there is a war between Amazon, Reliance and Walmart with Flipkart to capture the Indian retail market, e-commerce market.
Amazon has managed to get an interim order in its favor on October 25 from an international arbitration forum in Singapore to block the Future Group deal with Reliance. In its petition filed in the court, Future Group said, “No decision should be given on any petition filed by Amazon.” In this context, information should be given to Future Retail Limited under Section 148A of the Civil Procedure Code.
The company said that it has also sent a copy of the caveat petition to Amazon. It has written to Amazon with its copy, “You (Amazon) will inform the company 48 hours before filing any petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.”
