CAIT Petitions CCI Seeking Revocation of the Amazon-More Retail Deal

CAIT Petitions CCI Seeking Revocation of the Amazon-More Retail Deal
Photo: https://www.vccircle.com/future-group-stocks-surge-20-after-india-suspends-2019-amazon-deal 26.01.2022 824

Traders' body CAIT on Monday filed a complaint with the Competition Commission of India against Amazon accusing the e-commerce major of committing a fraud while seeking approval for the takeover of More Retail's stores in India.

CAIT has alleged that Amazon has committed fraud in seeking and obtaining CCI approval for its illegal takeover of More Retail’s stores in India. The traders’ body has further claimed that Amazon’s acquisition of More Retail is similar to the ecommerce giant investing in Future Coupons in 2019.

Notably, in December, CCI suspended the 2019 approval for Amazon's deal to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons. The 57-page long CCI order said the key reason for revoking the deal was misrepresentation and suppression of details on the deal and its purpose by Amazon.

CAIT said that Amazon has taken over More Retail through Samara Alternate Investment Fund (Samara AIF) that owns 51 per cent equity in Witzig Advisory LLP that in-turns owns More Retail Limited, which is in violation of the Press Note -2  issued by the Government of India, prohibiting foreign companies to buy any stake in a retail company in the country.

"It amply exposes the sinister designs of Amazon to control Indian retail companies in a fraudulent manner to capture the physical retail trade and inventory-based e-commerce in India causing enormous harm to the traders," the traders' body alleged.

Source: Indiatimes, Business Standard

digital markets  India 

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