SC grants stay on Rs 200 crore penalty imposed on Amazon

The Supreme Court has granted a stay on the Rs 200 crore penalty imposed on Amazon.Com NV Holdings LLC by the Competition Commission of India. The recovery of the penalty should not be undertaken until the next date of hearing, the apex court said.

The top court said that no coercive steps shall be taken against Amazon till the next date of hearing, which is July 7.

Amazon had mentioned the matter before the apex court on Monday since the CCI had issued a recovery notice on April 25.

In 2021, the competition regulator suspended the 2019 approval of the Future Group-Amazon deal. The CCI had stated that Amazon had failed to identify and notify strategic interest in Future Retail Ltd. back in 2019.

The commission had noted that Amazon’s interest in Future Retail Ltd., which owns the Big Bazaar chain of stores, was not adequately disclosed.

The regulator had imposed a Rs 200 crore penalty on Amazon for failing to notify the shareholder agreement involving Future Retail.

Amazon had pretended it was interested in Future Coupons, whereas its actual interest was in Future Retail, and the investment in the former was to get a foot in the door in India’s retail market, according to the CCI. Bloomberg