Amazon and Future agree to discuss an out of court settlement after nearly 2 years of legal battle

• The Supreme Court will hear the matter again on March 15.
• The court has given Future Retail, Amazon and Reliance Industries 12 days to find ways to settle the matter.
• The matter being heard in the Delhi High Court and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) could go as scheduled.

Lawyers of both Future Group and Amazon, who have been in legal tussle since August 2020 over a deal with Reliance Industries, have agreed to initiate the process of an out of court settlement. The Supreme Court of India, on Thursday, has given both the parties 12 days time to find a solution.

The Supreme Court will hear the matter again on March 15. "We will simply adjourn the matter for 10 days...Meanwhile, work out by gentleman's understanding. It will be better in [the] interest of business," Chief Justice N V Ramana said.

“I am presenting for a solution. Throughout we have always been willing to have a dialogue, a conversation. There can be other resolutions to a matter. Is it not a whirlpool? Facing one statutory authority barely because we went through an arbitration. Let us put our hands together and find a solution,” Amazon’s senior lawyer Gopal Subramanian was quoted as saying by Bar & Bench.

The matter being heard in the Delhi high court and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) could go as scheduled, a report by Economic Times read.

Reliance Industries had agreed to buy Future Group’s retail, wholesale and warehousing assets for ₹24,713 crore in August 2020. However, Amazon — which held about 3% stake in Future Retail through its 49% shareholding in Future Coupon — objected to the deal.

The ecommerce giant, led by Jeff Bezos, then had mentioned that Future Group was barred from selling any of their assets to several companies, including Reliance, as per the terms of their deal. The company also alleged that it was kept out of loop while the deal was being cracked.

India’s antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI ) revoked its clearance to Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future Coupons and imposed a ₹200 crore fine on the US-based ecommerce giant for concealing the facts. Amazon does hold the right to dispute this verdict and reapply for the clearance. However, Amazon cannot make any claims on Future Retail without its shareholding in Future Coupon.

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