Relief for Future Group: SC sets aside Delhi HC orders on Future-Amazon case

In what comes as a relief for Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside Delhi High Court order declining stay on an arbitration tribunal decision refusing to interfere with the Emergency Award (EA) of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in favour of Amazon. 

The top court said the HC needs to consider all issues and pass appropriate orders and remands the issues back to the court. 

Meanwhile, Future Group is on on interim Relief. The writ petition 48/22 was filed after the order was reserved. The petition will be heard in due course. 

The four petitions before the Supreme Court have been filed by Future Coupons Private Ltd (FCPL) and Future Retail Ltd (FRL).

Future Group has also challenged the Delhi HC order that had imposed a cost of Rs 20 lakh on it along with attachment of its properties.

Recently, Kishore Biyani-led FRL had moved the apex court to avert insolvency proceedings over missing a loan repayment deadline, even as its independent directors rejected an Amazon-supported offer to sell the company businesses at less than a third of what Mukesh Ambani's Reliance is offering.

Earlier this month, Future Retail had said it had missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with Amazon, impacting its monetisation plans. It has till the end of this month to make the payment.

In August 2020, the Future Group had announced a Rs 24,713-crore deal for the sale of the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing segment to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.

However, e-commerce major Amazon is contesting the deal through its 49 per cent stake in FCPL, which is a shareholder in FRL.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI), in an unprecedented move, had in December revisited its over-two-year-old approval granted to Amazon to acquire a stake in FCPL, through which the global e-commerce major is claiming rights over FRL.

On December 17, the CCI had suspended its approval for Amazon's deal to acquire a stake in FCPL and also imposed a penalty of Rs 202 crore on the e-commerce major for certain contraventions.

In October 2020, an interim award was passed by the emergency arbitrator in favour of Amazon that barred FRL from taking any step to dispose of or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to secure any funding from a restricted party. This was also upheld by SIAC last month, which said FRL is a party to the ongoing arbitration between Amazon and Future Group in the dispute over the sale of its assets to Reliance Retail.

Reliance Retail Ventures had for the second time extended the timeline for completing its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Future group to March 31, 2022, as it still awaits regulatory and judicial clearances.

(With inputs from Aneesha Mathur)