Kishore Biyani says Amazon creating confusion

In a letter addressed to the Future Group employees, Biyani alleged that Amazon is running a concerted and coordinated media campaign and leaking misleading information.

New Delhi: Future Group promoter Kishore Biyani has alleged that Amazon is “playing the dog in the manger” and trying to create a confusion about the group’s Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Industries.

Seeking to assuage concerns of employees amid the ongoing tussle with e-commerce giant Amazon, Biyani said the organisation is on firm legal footing and that has been vindicated by the regulatory approvals received for the deal from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), market regulator SEBI and the bourses.  The development comes days after Amazon petitioned the Delhi High Court to block the Future Group from selling retail assets to Reliance Industries and sought detention of Biyani and family members.

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In a letter addressed to the Future Group employees, Biyani alleged that Amazon is running a concerted and coordinated media campaign and leaking misleading information.

Biyani said the Future Group was the target of a new form of attack and that a “corporate battle” is being fought for supremacy over Indian customers 70 years after India became a republic and also alleged that immense resources are being deployed on influencing Indian society’s mindset and belief systems.

“…Amazon is playing the dog in the manger, going all out to create a ruckus…For reasons we never believed earlier but quite evident today, this battle is about ownership of the Indian customer at any cost,” he said in his letter written on Friday.  Meanwhile, Amazon did not respond to emailed query on the matter.

Biyani said he has received numerous letters, phone calls and messages from employees expressing their support, anxiety and queries on the various legal steps being taken by Amazon.

He justified the decision to sell retail, wholesale and some other businesses of Future Group to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s RIL, saying he was left with no other option but to enter in a “constructive deal” with Reliance Group in the wake of the financial crisis in the retail sector on account of the pandemic.