Legal Battle Between the Amazon and Reliance in Reliance-Future Deal Case

A dispute over an Indian grocery company has sparked another dispute between the world’s largest e-commerce company Amazon and Indian-rich Ambani’s Reliance Retail.

Bezos’ Amazon and Ambani’s Reliance have struck separate deals with the same retailer, Future Group, and are now embroiled in a dispute. 

The experts claim that the legal battle between Amazon and Reliance would reshape e-commerce growth in India.

“This is a huge phenomenon,” says Sattis Mina, a top forecast analyst at Consultancy Forrester. Amazon has never faced such competition in its market.

Like Bezos, who became rich from Amazon and transformed his company into a global retail company, the rich in India and the chief executive of Reliance are also proud of their history.

Analysts in the region say Reliance’s retail plans pose a challenge to Amazon. It could also affect Wal-Mart-owned Flipkart, he said. 

Amazon is currently aggressively expanding its presence in India. It has a business strategy to take advantage of the growing e-commerce market in India. Reliance, on the other hand, plans to expand both e-commerce and its grocery business. 

What is the dispute over Future Group?

Future Group sold its 3.4 billion retail assets to Reliance Industries last year. 

Since 2019, Amazon has owned 49 percent of Future Coupons. As a result, Amazon has indirect ownership of Future’s retail. On this basis, Amazon argues that Future Group will not be allowed to sell its assets to any Indian company, including Reliance. 

Future Retail was also hit hard by the long-running Corona epidemic. Therefore, the deal with Reliance was essential for the company to continue its operations, Future said. 

The case is currently pending in court. Just last Monday, the Delhi High Court reversed last week’s decision to hold the sale. 

If allowed to go ahead with the deal, Reliance’s branch will have access to more than 1,800 stores in more than 420 cities in India, as well as Future Group’s wholesale business and logistics arm.