Reliance Industries moves CCI for approval of Future Group deal

Reliance Industries (RIL) has approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to approve its deal with the Future Group (FEL). CCI was notified about the deal by Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), who proposed that the relevant markets for the fair trade regulator’s assessment of the deal should be tagged as ‘market for retail in India’ and ‘market for B2B sales in India’.

The manner in which the CCI evaluates the deal will set an example as the deal includes not only online and offline businesses but also covers a range of sectors including retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing.

In August, RIL had announced a deal to acquire the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group on a slump sale basis for Rs 24,713 crore. The acquisition includes key brands like Big Bazaar, fbb, Foodhall, EasyDay, Nilgiris, Central and Brand Factory.

Further, within retail there is the organized (supermarkets, retail chains, e-commerce) and unorganized sector (locally run stores), which is segmented by products in terms of electronics, food, groceries, apparel etc.