India antitrust watchdog fines Amazon up to $26.3 million. Amazon was not only fined the sum of almost $26.3 million but India’s antitrust watchdog has also suspended the retail company’s deal with Future.
India Antitrust Watchdog Fines Amazon Up To $26.3 Million
Indian antitrust watchdog has denied the endorsement it had allowed for Amazon’s 2019 interest in a Future Group unit and has therefore forced a fine of about $26.3 million to the American internet business monster for hiding realities and facts.
The Competition Commission of India said Amazon, which put resources into Future Coupons in 2019, “suppress[ed] the actual scope and purpose of the combination” and neglected to inform a portion of its business courses of action.
India’s biggest corporate store Reliance retail said a year prior that it had agreed with Future Group to procure the last option’s retail and distributer business, just as its coordination’s and warehousing business, for $3.4 billion. (CCI has supported the arrangement between the country’s two biggest corporate stores.)
How the Deal Fell Apart
Things started to get convoluted a while later. Amazon blamed Future Group for abusing its agreement and moved toward the Singapore mediator to stop the arrangement between the Indian firms, saying it had the appropriate first interest in Future Group. The matter arrived at India’s Supreme Court, which in August decided for Amazon to slow down the arrangement.
The CCI, which initially supported the arrangement among Amazon and Future, started evaluating it again following a protest from Future.
CCI in a 59-page order on Friday said that “the conduct of amazon in suppressing relevant and material documents against the disclosure requirement under item 8.8 of form I is a contravention of clause © of subsection (1) of section 45 of the act.”
Amazons Response to the Fine Imposed by India’s Competition Commission
The retail giant, Amazon is required to pay the required sum within 60 days. The company however via a statement said that it was reviewing the order. A spokesperson from Amazon said to TechCrunch that “we are reviewing the order passed by the competition commission of India, and we will decide on next steps in due course.”
The result of the fine is coming in just days after amazon warned the antitrust body of India that revoking its 2019 deal it had with future group would send a not so good signal to other foreign investors and will therefore also enable reliance which is the owner of the largest retail chain in India to “further restrict competition.”
What Other Retail Bodies Think About the Fine Imposed On Amazon
A lobby group that represents most of the retailers in the south Asian market, confederation of all India traders said that CCI’s Friday order is “a landmark order and amazon stands fully exposed for its mal-practices, and a bunch of lies at all levels together with continued violation of laws and rules.”
