NCLAT rejects Amazon's plea to stay CCI order suspending Future Coupons deal approval

New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday rejected the plea of e-commerce major Amazon plea against the order passed by fair trade regulator CCI, which suspended the over-two-year-old approval for its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL).

NCLAT bench in its judgement today upheld the CCI's order of suspension of Amazon Future Coupons deal agreeing with CCI's order that Amazon had not made full disclosures of the information to the Commission.

In December last year, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) suspended the approval given by it in 2019, for Amazon's deal to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL).

The regulator had said that Amazon suppressed information while seeking clearances for the transaction back then and also slapped a fine of Rs 202 crore on the company.

This includes a Rs 200 crore penalty for Amazon's to notify the combination in the requisite terms and two penalties of Rs one crore each for suppressing the actual scope and purpose of the combination.

However, NCLAT slightly modified the orders of CCI and said the penalty of Rs one crore each imposed was "on the higher side" and reduced it to Rs 50 lakh each.