In Bezos vs Ambani battle, focus on disclosures by Amazon

New Delhi, Oct 27 : In the Jeff Bezos vs Mukesh Ambani battle royale for the Indian retail market, which is now also evolving into a ‘videshi vs swadeshi’ battle, questions are being raised by corporate watchers.
Eight absolutely unknown facts are emerging in the Bezos vs Ambani battle.
1. Has Amazon’s Jeff Bezos disclosed all of the Amazon-Future agreements to Future Retail Ltd (FRL) shareholders? To this, corporate watchers say no. Bezos has invested 49 per cent in Future Coupons Ltd (FCL), a promoter company of FRL. 51 per cent of FCL is held by Kishore Biyani, an Indian resident. FCL, in turn, has 9.82 per cent holding in FRL.
It looks as though that FCL is controlled by Biyani with his holding of 51 per cent. This is a requirement under India’s FDI Regulations.
Bezos cannot hold directly even one share in FRL. On the face of it, he seems to be in compliance with FDI Regulations. But, the reality is different.