Amazon Acquiring Stake In India’s Future Group Raises Antitrust Issues

Amazon is reportedly planning to buy a stake in Indian retailing company -- Future Group. The Indian antitrust body, however, is requesting more information, which could potentially delay the deal between Amazon and the Future Group. Both companies have been in talks since August for a deal where Amazon is said to buy a 49 percent stake in the Future Group.

Amazon, Future Group Deal

Amazon is already a household e-commerce name in the Indian urban economy. If Amazon owns 49 percent in a unit of India's Future Group, it would own a 3.58 percent stake in the Future Retail company. The Future Group in India runs Big Bazaar with 290 stores across the country.

The new deal would boost Amazon's presence in the booming retail market. But, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) sent a notice to Amazon recently claiming that certain segments of both Amazon and the Future Group were found to overlap. The combined market shares would exceed "the threshold specified in the combination regulations," a CCI source told Reuters.

The Amazon, Future Group deal has another hurdle with the CCI procedure. Amazon has notified the CCI through a Form I, instead of Form II, which is more detailed. Form II is generally used when two or more parties joining together would exceed the pre-defined market share threshold.

CCI Questions Amazon

The Amazon, Future Group deal is also raising antitrust issues, where CCI is questioning Amazon more than 40 queries related to the deal and its business plan in India, an insider said. The source told Reuters that "there are questions about e-commerce ... the CCI needs to assess whether there is any adverse impact on competition or not."

On the other hand, Amazon says that the CCI query will not delay the deal. Amazon says there won't be any "appreciable adverse effect on competition." Experts of antitrust laws say that under such circumstances, generally, the parties involved need to defend their decision. If the CCI disagrees, then Amazon and the Future Group will need to fill the detailed Form II.