Amazon's plea against future rejected; NCLAT directs online retail giant to pay Rs 200-Cr penalty in 45 days

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday rejected Amazon's plea challenging the decision of fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) to suspend the approval for the e-commerce major's deal with Future Coupons.

The NCLAT has also upheld the Rs 200 crore fine imposed on Amazon and granted the company 45 days to pay.

The fine has been imposed for non-disclosure of relevant information on combinations under the Competition Act, 2002, reports said.

Confirming the CCI's ruling on Monday, the NCLAT said that it is in full agreement with the anti-trust watchdog that Amazon had not made a "full, fair, forthright" disclosure about its strategic interest in Future Retail Ltd - Future group's publicly listed company which ran its flagship banner of Big Bazaar.

A two-member bench comprising Justice M Venugopal and Ashok Kumar Mishra, upheld the findings of CCI and directed it to pay the penalty of Rs 200 crore imposed on Amazon by the fair trade regulator within 45 days from Monday.

In December last year, CCI had suspended the approval given by it in 2019, for Amazon's deal to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). FCPL is a promoter of Future Retail Ltd (FRL).

The regulator had said that Amazon suppressed information while seeking clearances for the transaction back then and also slapped a fine of Rs 202 crore on the company.

Amazon had opposed FRL's deal to sell assets to Reliance Retail as part of a Rs 24,713-crore deal, which has now been called off.