The Indian antitrust watchdog revoked the approval it had granted for Amazon to invest in a Future Group unit and imposed a fine on the American e-commerce giant for concealing facts.
The Competition Commission of India said that Amazon failed to notify some of its commercial arrangements and suppressed the actual scope and purpose of the combination.
Reliance Retail, India's largest retail chain, said a year ago it had reached an agreement with Future Group to acquire the latter's retail and wholesaler business, as well as its logistics and warehousing business, for $3.4 billion. The deal between the nation's two largest retail chains has been approved.
Things began to get complicated. Amazon accused Future Group of violating its contract and approached the Singapore arbitrator to stop the deal between the Indian firms. The Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of Amazon to stall the deal.
The deal between Amazon and Future was originally approved by the CCI, but it has been reviewed again.
The conduct of Amazon in supressing relevant and material documents against the disclosure requirement under item 8.8 of Form I is a violation of clause (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 45 of the Act, said CCI in a 59-page order on Friday.
Amazon said in a statement that it was reviewing the order and would pay the fine within 60 days.
The Competition Commission of India's order is being reviewed and will be decided on in due course, a spokesman told TechCrunch.
Amazon warned the Indian antitrust body that revocation of its deal with Future Group would send a negative signal to foreign investors and enable Reliance to further restrict competition.
The Confederation of All India Traders, a lobby group that represents millions of retailers in the South Asian market, said that the CCI order was a landmark order and that Amazon stands fully exposed for its mal-practices and lies.
