INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Future Group has now engaged in a legal battle with its lenders even as its dispute with Amazon continues
Even as the Future Group is involved in a dispute with Amazon.com, it has challenged its own lenders in Supreme
Future Group on Tuesday challenged its own lenders in the Supreme Court in a bid to avoid being named a defaulter for missing
payments, according to a report by Reuters.Future Group cited its ongoing dispute with partner Amazon.com Inc, according to a legal filing
seen by Reuters.The country's second-largest retailer, Future has since 2020 failed to complete its $3.4 billion retail asset sale to a
rival due to a row with Amazon.Amazon argues that Future Group violated certain non-compete contractual terms the two sides had
Future denies any wrongdoing.Future told exchanges this month that it was unable to pay 35 billion rupees or Rs 3,500 crore ($470 million)
it owed to its lenders on December 31 as it could not sell certain small stores due to the dispute with Amazon.Future had hoped to use a
30-day grace period to resolve the situation.In its filing on Tuesday, Future urged the Supreme Court to ask lenders and Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) to grant more time to execute the sale, Reuters reported.Future's main retail arm, Future Retail, also asked judges to quash
default notices it had received from its lenders, including the State Bank of India, warning of action against the company.Earlier on
January 8, 2022, Amazon.com had filed fresh legal challenges in its long-running dispute with Future Group after the Competition Commission
of India (CCI) had suspended a 2019 deal between the two sides, leading to a halt in their arbitration, Reuters had earlier reported.The CCI
last month had suspended its approval of Amazon's 2019 deal with Future, denting the US e-commerce giant's attempts to block the sale of
Future's retail assets to domestic market leader Reliance Industries.
