Future Retail employees urge SC to clear sale to Reliance in Amazon dispute

Employees of India’s Future Retail have asked the Supreme Court to allow the company to sell its retail assets and rule against Amazon.com Inc in an ongoing dispute, citing risks to 27,000 jobs, according to a legal filing seen by Reuters.

Future has failed to close its $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets to market leader Reliance Industries due to successful legal challenges by Amazon, which argues that Future violated some pre-existing contracts the two sides had struck, by deciding to sell its retail assets to Reliance.

As India’s Supreme Court gears up to hear the dispute on Tuesday, a group of Future Retail (FRL) employees have filed a petition urging the court to rule against Amazon, saying their livelihoods were at stake.

If the deal fails, Future “will be pushed into liquidation, resulting in its 27,000 employees losing their livelihoods. The families of employees will be on the streets,” the FRL Employee Welfare Association said in a filing, seen by Reuters.

Future, which denies any wrongdoing, has said it would face liquidation if the Reliance deal doesn’t go through, while Amazon has repeatedly argued that its 2019 investment into a Future unit prohibits the Future-Reliance deal.