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Weekly News Wrap: Delhi court halts Future-Amazon arbitration; 7-Eleven China fined over calling Taiwan a nation

And Walmart clarified they did not deliberately remove Xinjiang products on its app.

From Reuters

A Delhi court has halted arbitration proceedings between Indian conglomerate Future Group and its estranged U.S. partner Amazon.com in light of the national antitrust agency's suspension of a 2019 deal between the two sides.

The decision is a setback for U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon, which had successfully used the terms of its 2019 investment in a Future unit to block the Indian company's attempt to sell retail assets to a rival.

But after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) suspended the 2019 deal last month, citing suppression of information by Amazon while seeking clearances, Future argued there was no legal basis for the arbitration between the two sides to continue in Singapore.

A two-judge bench led by Chief Justice D. N. Patel of the Delhi High Court agreed with Future's arguments, putting the arbitration proceedings on hold. If the proceedings are not halted, Justice Patel said this would cause an "irreparable loss" to Future.

Read more here.

https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-court-puts-hold-arbitration-between-amazon-future-2022-01-05/

 

From Bloomberg:

Seven & i Holdings’ China-based convenience store business was fined for identifying Taiwan as an independent state on its website, the latest crackdown by the country against companies over its stance on disputed territories.

Fines of about $23,519 (RMB150,000) were imposed by the Beijing local authority against Seven & i, a spokesperson for the Japanese retailer said, confirming an earlier Nikkei report. The group operates 7-Eleven stores in China.

Enterprises operating in China—from Gap and Daimler, to airlines including United Continental Holdings and ANA Holdings—have apologised or changed their websites after depicting Taiwan as a separate state. China regards the island as part of its territory.

Read more here.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-07/china-fines-7-eleven-for-calling-taiwan-a-nation-on-map

 

From Reuters:

Walmart arm Sam's Club, responding to the furore in China over what local media said was its deliberate removal of Xinjiang-sourced products from its app, denied the move in a call with analysts and termed it "a misunderstanding."

Chinese social media users and local news outlets criticised Sam's Club, a members only warehouse club that offers products and services, last week for the removal of the products from its domestic online stores. China's anti-graft agency accused the U.S. retailer and Sam's Club of "stupidity and short-sightedness" over the matter.

A Sam's Club representative told local analysts in a call organised by a domestic securities firm last week that Chinese consumers failed to find products from Xinjiang because the app does not support searches for products based on names of places.

The call, a full recording of which was shared with Reuters by a participant, introduced the representative as Sam's Club regional e-commerce leader surnamed Zhang.

Read more here.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/exclusive-walmart-arm-did-not-deliberately-remove-xinjiang-goods-china-exec-2022-01-05/

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