In Brief: Amazon, Google get SC notice over UPI security; Future Group-Reliance deal

The Supreme Court has sent notices to technology giants Amazon, Google, Facebook as well as the government, Reserve Bank of India, and National Payments Corporation of India over a public interest litigation by CPI leader Binoy Viswam, The Economic Times reported. The petition alleges that the companies have been allowed into the UPI (unified payments interface) ecosystem without much scrutiny, putting the financial data of Indian citizens at the risk of being misused. It seeks directions to the central bank to ensure that the data shared with these platforms is not used for anything except processing financial transactions and is stored locally in India, in compliance with existing regulations.

Amazon’s agreement with Future Group barred any deal with Reliance

As Amazon and Future Group prepare for a contentious legal battle over the latter’s decision to sell its businesses to Reliance Retail for Rs. 24,713 crore, a Livemint report has surfaced saying that Amazon’s case against the Kishore Biyani-led conglomerate is directly based on a clause that specifically barred the group from forging any pact with Reliance. The report cited two people who said Reliance’s name was explicitly mentioned and that it was a pre-condition for the 2019 Amazon-Future deal, that saw the ecommerce giant acquire a 49% stake in the Future Coupons entity. Amazon has hired AZB Partners to proceed with the case against Future Group at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.