Future Coupons Moves Delhi High Court Against SIAC Award In Favour Of Amazon

Kishore Biyani led Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL) has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) award that directed the company and its promoters to pay Rs 23.7 crore in damages, along with arbitration and litigation costs, to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC.

A Single Bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh, after counsel for Future Coupons submitted that the parties are in settlement talks, adjourned the matter to January 19 for further hearing.

The plea seeks to set aside the June 2025 arbitral award, contending that the SIAC tribunal erred in holding the Future Group and its promoters in breach of contractual obligations under the Future Coupons shareholders' agreement.

The dispute traces back to a 2020 deal in which the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, then burdened with debts of around Rs 22,000 crore, agreed to sell its Big Bazaar retail business and related divisions to Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, for Rs 24,713 crore.

Amazon, which had invested Rs 1,400 crore in Future Coupons in 2019, objected to the proposed transaction, arguing that its agreement with FCPL restricted the Future Group from selling its retail assets to certain entities, including Reliance. The e-commerce major initiated arbitration before the SIAC in October 2020 and secured an emergency order restraining the Future-Reliance deal.

The arbitration proceedings culminated in a final award that found Future Group and 11 of its promoters and related parties, including Kishore Biyani, in breach of their contractual obligations. While Amazon had sought Rs 1,436 crore in damages, the tribunal awarded Rs 23.7 crore, observing that Amazon's investment value had already been eroded due to the deteriorating financial position of Future Retail Limited (FRL) and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tribunal also directed the Future Group parties to pay Rs 77.3 crore and SGD 68,550 as litigation and arbitration costs.

The dispute has travelled several forums including the Supreme Court of India, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), and the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which had earlier imposed a Rs 200 crore penalty on Amazon for non-disclosure of information related to its 2019 investment in Future Coupons.

Case Title : Future Coupons Private Limited & Ors. v. Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC & Ors.

Case Number: O.M.P. (COMM) - 458/2025

For Petitioners: Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan along with advocates Pranjit Bhattacharya, Salonee Shukla, Aashima Gautam, Sachin Jain, Sanjeevi Sheshadri instructed by Chambers of Pranjit Bhattacharya (for Future Coupons) ,Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan and Advocate Shrishti Juneja for Ashni Kishore Biyani

For Respondents: Senior Advocate V P Singh instructed by AZB & Partners for Amazon