The legal and regulatory battle between Amazon and Reliance Industries over supremacy in the Indian ecommerce market produced news throughout 2021. To reprise, Reliance Industries, an emerging digital conglomerate led by India’s richest man, attempted to acquire Indian business Future Retail in 2020. Amazon was able to block the purchase based on a contract provision linked to an investment in a Future Group subsidiary in 2019. As 2021 closed, the Indian High Court upheld Amazon’s contract rights, but the country’s competition regulator decided to review the original 2019 investment and potentially void that deal, which may tip the balance to Reliance. In addition, Amazon’s regulatory battles in India go much further back and are grounded in the country’s unique Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws that prohibit foreign ownership of retail businesses but allow foreign-owned third-party ecommerce marketplaces, with the market-leading ecommerce giant claiming to be a marketplace but facing years of allegations that they violate FDI laws by engaging in retail activities.
Platform Economy Insights