ED summons Amazon, Future Group executives in FEMA probe

The executives have been summoned along with documents for the coming week under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), they said. Amazon India head Agarwal, some other senior officials of the company and those of the Future Group have been called, the sources said. The investigation is being conducted under various sections of the FEMA after the federal agency received a communication from the Commerce Ministry early this year seeking “necessary action” against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart pertaining to certain multi-brand retail businesses and an observation made by the Delhi High Court in relation to Amazon.

The executives were asked to join so that investigation can progress. The agency has gathered details from the documents submitted by the firms earlier and other sources over the last few months, sources said. An Amazon spokesperson said they were examining the ED summons. “We are in receipt of summons issued by the ED in connection with the Future Group. As we have just received the summons, we are examining it and will respond within the given time frame.”

The Kishore Biyani-led Future Group did not respond to the queries over the development.

Amazon has asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to revoke its approval for Future Retail’s $3.4 billion sale of retail assets to Reliance, saying it was “illegally obtained”, violating an order suspending the deal, a letter seen by Reuters shows. The approval for the deal was a “nullity in the eyes of law” as an arbitrator’s order was still in force, it said.