CAIT urges Suresh Prabhu to order probe into Amazon-Witzig bid to acquire Aditya Birla's retail chain

New Delhi: Traders’ body CAIT Monday urged commerce minister Suresh Prabhu to order a probe into Witzig-Amazon bid to acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, which operates supermarket store chain ‘More’. Fair trade regulator CCI Friday said it has approved the deal. In a statement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) alleged “it is a clear case of circumventing the FDI Policy in e-commerce” and exhorted Prabhu to “order a probe in the matter and till then the takeover should be stayed”. [caption id=“attachment_5445831” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union minister Suresh Prabhu. AFP[/caption] Amazon India declined to comment on the matter. “It is highly regretted that CCI has approved the combination based on the competition aspect of the deal. However, we are surprised how can an illegal deal be approved only on competition aspect,” CAIT claimed in the statement. According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the deal involves the acquisition of 99.99 percent of the equity share capital of Aditya Birla Retail by Witzig, and 49 percent stake buy in Witzig by Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon NV Investment Holdings LLC. This also marks the US-based e-commerce major Amazon’s second investment in the Indian brick and mortar format, after it had picked up stake in the K Raheja group’s retail arm Shopper Stop. Witzig is a wholly owned subsidiary of Samara Alternative Investment Fund which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) as category II Alternative fund.     To keep watching India’s No. 1 English Business News Channel – CNBC-TV18, call your Cable or DTH Operator and ask for the Colors Family Pack (inclusive of 24 channels), available for Rs. 35/- per month, or subscribe to the channel for Rs. 4/- per day. To keep watching the Leader in Global Market & Business News – CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, call your Cable or DTH Operator and ask for the Colors Family HD Pack (inclusive of 25 channels), available for Rs. 50/- per month, or subscribe to the channel for Rs. 1/- per day.