What happens to the Future group case now?

Here is a quick updated on the developments at the Future group and where it goes from here.

· Last week, Future Retail requested the Supreme Court to grant 2 more weeks to settle the bank dues. But these 2 weeks may no change anything at the ground level.

· On 30-Dec, Future group had defaulted on bank outstanding of Rs.3,494 crore. That grace periods has already ended a week ago.

· The deal with Reliance is still stuck so there was no way Future group was going to pay the dues with no source of funds coming in.

· Amazon has offered a solution which but that only is one-third as attractive as the Reliance offer and hence may not be acceptable to the creditors at all.

· However, giving more time to Future group may not service any purpose since they cannot pay unless the deal with Reliance goes through.

· The only option is a special Supreme Court appointed solution to arrange bidding among Reliance and Amazon so that the monies can be recovered quickly. This stems losses.

· If the resolution does not happen immediately, then the banks have to start making provisions for the Future group dues and the numbers are substantial.

· The best way is for the court to order a straight bidding between Amazon and Reliance for the assets of Future group. That would be, perhaps, the best solution for everyone.

However, for India there are bigger takeaways from the above fiasco. It has become just too easy for the likes of Future group and Amazon to game the Indian legal system and delay things interminably. Had the courts forced a resolution on the issuer earlier, the losses would have been much lower. There is also the need for more watertight contracting by