Future Retail has more than 1800 stores across various small towns in India, a presence which no other retail player in India has. Therefore, retail giants which want to capture the Indian market are racing towards capturing Future’s presence.

The Future Group was deep in debt and therefore, entered into a deal with Amazon, the former agreed to sell 49% of it’s unlisted entity, Future Coupons for more than Rs. 15,000 crore. It also included Amazon the right to buy into flagship Future Retail after a period between three and ten years. These options are still in a regulatory grey area, such as foreign entities are not allowed in multi-brand retail among other regulations. The deal also included a non-compete clause, forbidding Future from dealing with Amazon’s competitors, which among many others, included Reliance.

 In 2020, Kishore Biyani entered into a deal with Reliance Retail. The deal included Future selling its logistics, wholesale, retail and warehousing units to Reliance. Aggrieved by this deal, Amazon approached the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in October 2020. The SIAC issued a restraining order against Future and put the Future-Reliance deal on hold.

 The Future Group went to the Delhi HIgh Court against Amazon and stated that Amazon was interfering in it’s agreement with Reliance. The Single Bench of the Delhi High Court granted an interim order in favour of Future. Amazon then moved the Division Bench in the Delhi High Court which ultimately cleared the Future-Reliance deal. In the meanwhile, SEBI also cleared the Future-Reliance deal.

Amazon eventually moved the Supreme Court. In 2021, the Supreme Court Bench held that Future Group is bound by the arbitration Award and it was enforceable under Indian law.

The Competition Commission of India, India’s antitrust regulator suspended its nod to Amazon’s investment in Future Coupons. CCI held that Amazon had misled the Commission. Using this, Future went to SIAC asking to terminate the proceedings now that Indian regulators hadn’t approved the deal.

The Supreme Court set aside the coercive steps of the Delhi HIgh Court against the Future Group companies observing that contempt of a civil nature can only be made out when there is ‘wilful disobedience’ and not just ‘disobedience’.

In February 2022, the Supreme Court remitted the ruling on the stay back to HC “for adjudication on its own merits” and said it raises “certain important questions of law concerning the effect of the award of an Emergency Arbitrator and the jurisdiction of an Arbitral Tribunal qua such awards arise in the present matter”. Now it is to be seen whether Amazon takes any further steps.