ADVERTISEMENT

Jeff Bezos’ $1 Billion Pledge Is Just ‘Promotional Finance’ To Crush Indian Retailers: Traders’ Body

Target of exporting $10 billion worth of Make in India goods by 2025 is ridiculous, says CAIT’s Secretary General Khandelwal.

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., gestures next to a diya stand during the opening session of Amazon Sambhav event in New Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)
Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., gestures next to a diya stand during the opening session of Amazon Sambhav event in New Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)

Traders' body Confederation Of All India Traders on Wednesday alleged that the $1 billion investment announced by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is "promotional finance" to Amazon India to crush retail trade and encourage predatory pricing and deep discounting.

CAIT, which has been opposing Bezos' visit to India, said more than 5 lakh traders supported its protests in about 300 cities, and about 5,000 trade associations participated.

The $1 billion investment by Bezos for small and medium businesses is not an investment, but promotional finance to Amazon India to crush retail trade and encourage his team in India to do more predatory pricing and deep discounting, and to go on violating Foreign Direct Investment policy, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

Opinion
Jeff Bezos Tops Up Amazon’s India Investment By $1 Billion

He termed the target of exporting $10 billion worth of Make in India goods by 2025 "ridiculous". Bezos wants to build a false and wrong narrative to show that Amazon is pro-small traders, Khandelwal claimed.

Amazon.com Inc chief Jeff Bezos on Wednesday announced $1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore) investment in India to help bring small and medium businesses online and committed to exporting $10 billion worth of India-made goods by 2025.

Opinion
Jeff Bezos Speaks About Amazon’s Failures, Evolution And $1-Billion Investment On Indian SMEs

Before this, the online retail giant had committed $5.5 billion investments in India - Amazon's most important market outside of the U.S. and a key growth driver.

Bezos, who began a three-day visit to India on Tuesday by visiting Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat, was speaking at the SMBhav event - an Amazon India gathering for small and medium businesses.

Opinion
Jeff Bezos’s India Visit Marked by Probe and Protests