INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In 2020, Future - hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic - decided to sell assets to Reliance.New Delhi: For more than a year, Amazon.com Inc and
India's Future Group have been locked in a complex legal stand-off that has stalled Future's $3.4 billion sale of assets to rival Reliance
Industries, the country's biggest conglomerate.Amazon and Future agreed to out-of-court settlement discussions this month, but the two sides
told India's Supreme Court on March 15 they had failed to resolve the matter.Following is a guide to the dispute.The TriggerIn 2019, Amazon
2 player in India behind market leader Reliance, became business partners when the U.S
company invested $200 million in a unit of the Indian group.That deal, Amazon argues, came with non-compete clauses that prohibited Future
from selling retail assets to certain rivals, including Reliance, run by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani
The deal's terms call for disputes to be settled by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.In 2020, Future - hit hard by the
Covid-19 pandemic - decided to sell assets to Reliance.Amazon then approached Singapore arbitrators and successfully stopped the sale
Both parties have also challenged each other in Indian courts, including the Supreme Court.Their ArgumentsAmazon argues various agreements
signed in 2019 with Future gave it special rights over Future's retail assets, some of which it had also hoped to ultimately own should
India's rules for foreign investors be eased
The potential Future-Reliance deal "destroys" the latter prospect, the U.S
company has said.Future denies any wrongdoing, saying Amazon is illegally seeking to exert control on Future's retail business
Future Retail - the group's flagship retail arm - says it faces liquidation if the Reliance deal fails.The StakesIf Amazon were to prevail,
that could set it up to become a bigger force than Reliance in India's $900 billion retail market.Reliance has 1,100 supermarkets, while
Future has around 1,500 and both are expanding fast into e-commerce.Amazon has invested $6.5 billion in India - a key growth market where it
is a leading e-commerce player
The Future partnership had helped Amazon to boost its online portfolio of grocery deliveries by integrating the Indian company's stores on
its website.Keeping Future away from Reliance chimes with Amazon's efforts to combat Ambani's growth plans
In one confidential legal filing, Amazon said Reliance's consolidated position with Future "will further restrict competition in the Indian
retail market".The WranglingFuture last year complained to India's antitrust agency that Amazon was making incorrect and contradictory
submissions about the intent of the 2019 deal.Amazon said it never concealed any information, but last December the watchdog suspended its
approval of the 2019 deal with Future, saying there was "a deliberate design on the part of Amazon to suppress the actual scope" of the deal
and its interest in Future's retail businesses.In a setback for the U.S
giant, an Indian court in January halted the Singapore arbitration proceedings between the two sides in light of the antitrust
decision.Reliance's Seizure Of Stores And Failed TalksOn February 25, Reliance, which had not played a public role in the dispute, suddenly
took control of hundreds of Future stores, citing non-payment of rent it was due.On March 3, Amazon extended an olive branch during a
Supreme Court hearing, saying the "whirlpool" of litigation must end and proposed talks which Future agreed to.On March 15, the two sides
told the court the talks had failed
Earlier in the day, Amazon ran newspaper ads accusing the Indian firms of transferring the stores "in a clandestine manner by playing a
fraud on the constitutional courts in India." Reliance hasn't commented, while Future denies any wrongdoing.Sources said the talks collapsed
because Amazon wanted at least $200 million - the amount it had invested in Future's unit - returned
But the Indian company said it wasn't in a financial position to do so.
