Supreme Court bars tribunal from final review of Future Group’s assets sale

The Supreme Court has barred a tribunal from giving its final review on Future Group's $3.4 billion sale of retail assets until it hears Amazon.com Inc’s arguments. Amazon has objected to Future Group's sale of assets to Reliance Industries (RIL) as according to the company it violates contracts.

The Supreme Court ordered the tribunal to continue reviewing the deal and oversee the approval process. However, it cannot pass a final order until the court hears Amazon's concerns. The deal has already been cleared by stock exchanges and the antitrust watchdog while the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is yet to clear it.

Future has asked NCLT to let it call meetings to seek shareholder approvals for the deal. That process will continue, and Future will later seek final approval from the tribunal.

The outcome of this tussle involving two of the world's richest men, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Reliance's Mukesh Ambani, is likely to reshape India's pandemic-hit shopping sector and decide if Amazon can blunt Reliance's dominance of retail.