The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated an investigation against e-commerce giant Amazon for alleged The Enforcement Directorate is probing suspected violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act rules by Amazon, said a senior agency official on Thursday.
The probe is being conducted under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the central probe agency recently received a communication from the Commerce Ministry 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 High Court had said that said the attempt made by the US-based firm to control Future Retail through a conflation of agreements it has with an unlisted unit of the Indian company will be considered as violative of the FEMA and foreign direct investment (FDI) rules. When contacted, an Amazon spokesperson said it was "not aware of any new case by the Enforcement Directorate against Amazon India".
According to Sources, the agency is looking to "investigate into the entire issue and will seek details from Amazon and other stakeholders". In the first instance under the ED scanner is a recent communication sent to it by the dept. for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) that functions under the Commerce Ministry.
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