Future Group, Amazon in settlement talks post ₹23.7 crore SIAC award: Lawyers to Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court was informed on Friday that Future Group and Amazon are in settlement talks pursuant to an arbitral award by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) directing the former party to pay ₹23.7 crore in damages to the latter. [Future Coupons v. Amazon NV holdings]

Justice Jasmeet Singh, who was hearing petitions filed by Future Coupons and Ashni Biyani challenging the SIAC award, adjourned the case to January 14, 2026.

In June 2025,the SIAC tribunal awarded ₹23.7 crore in damages to Amazon in its long-running dispute with the Future Group over the latter’s 2020 transaction with Reliance Industries. The tribunal also ordered payment of ₹77 crore towards legal costs incurred in the arbitration, in addition to approximately ₹6 crore towards arbitration fees.

Amazon had sought ₹1,436 crore in damages, representing the amount invested in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL), but the tribunal granted only a fraction of that sum. Sources indicated that the SIAC allowed around 60% of the legal costs incurred before the tribunal and declined to award costs for related proceedings before Indian courts and regulators.

The three-member tribunal comprised Prof Albert Jan van den Berg, Prof Jan Paulsson and Senior Counsel Michael Hwang.

The tribunal had found that the Future Group breached its contractual obligations by approving a transaction with Reliance in violation of restrictive covenants contained in Amazon’s 2019 investment agreements. These agreements, through FCPL, were structured to give Amazon indirect access to Future Retail Limited (FRL), which operated the Big Bazaar chain. The structure was necessitated by foreign investment restrictions in multi-brand retail.

The Amazon-Future Group dispute originated from Amazon's 2019 investment of ₹1,431 crore to acquire a 49% stake in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL), a subsidiary of Future Group. This investment was designed to give Amazon indirect access to Future Retail Limited (FRL), India's second-largest retail chain operating Big Bazaar stores, since foreign companies face restrictions on direct investment in multi-brand retail.

The shareholder agreements included restrictive covenants that prohibited Future Group from selling assets to a list of 30 "restricted persons," including Reliance Industries. Amazon's strategy was to eventually gain control of Future Group's extensive retail network of approximately 1,800 stores across India.

The dispute arose in August 2020 when Future Group, facing severe financial distress due to COVID-19 lockdowns and mounting debts of ₹22,000 crore, announced a ₹24,713 crore deal to sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses to Reliance Industries. Amazon immediately objected, claiming this violated their 2019 agreements.

Amazon initiated arbitration proceedings at the SIAC in October 2020, securing an emergency arbitration award that halted the Reliance-Future deal. The case became a multi-jurisdictional battle involving SIAC, Indian courts and regulatory bodies like the Competition Commission of India, which later suspended Amazon's original 2019 deal approval for non-disclosure of material information.

The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan with Advocates Pranjit Bhattacharya, Shrishti Juneja, Salonee Shukla, Aashima Gautam, Sachin Jain and Sanjeevi Seshadri.

The respondents were represented by Senior Advocate VP Singh.