Piyush Goyal snubs Bezos's $1bn investment announcement, Chidambaram slams him
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos came to India bearing gifts. The world's richest man promised to invest $1 billion to digitize small businesses, but this offer was welcomed rudely. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said Bezos wasn't doing India a "favor". This remark evoked a sharp reaction from Congress leader P Chidambaram who sarcastically said this snub will help the country become a $5 trillion economy.
Bezos's three-day India visit came close on heels of a probe which the government ordered. On Monday, the Competition Commission of India launched an investigation against Amazon and Flipkart on allegations that the e-commerce companies favored some brands over others. Apart from this, local traders also launched a countrywide protest against Bezos claiming he was hurting small businesses since Amazon gave heavy discounts.
In a bid to win over the lost trust, Bezos announced at Amazon India's event that he will invest a whopping $1 billion in India. Besides, the e-commerce giant will also utilize its global footprint to boost Indian exports. "Our hope is that this investment will expose the world to the 'Make in India' products that represent India's rich, diverse culture," Bezos announced.
Surprisingly, Bezos's announcement received a cold response. Downplaying it, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday, "They may have put in a billion dollars, but then, if they make a loss of a billion dollars every year, then they jolly well have to finance that billion dollars." He added that Amazon was not doing "a great favor to India".
Like Goyal, another BJP leader also slammed Bezos. Vijay Chauthaiwale, the in-charge of Foreign Affairs Department in BJP, told IE that WashingtonPost, a portal which Amazon owns, is biased towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "While Bezos is so positive about India and its democracy, I want to say that he should give the same message to his people at Washington Post," the minister said.
Considering India's economy is going through a crisis, Goyal's response to Bezos was bound to earn criticism. Notably, the first one to comment on it was Chidambaram, the former Finance Minister of India. One of the tweets which he posted read, "The snub will reverse the five successive month decline in Imports and the eight successive month decline in Exports. (sic)"
What’s a snub? No great deal. Bezos friends live under the biggest snubber of all time - President Trump.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 16, 2020
The comment from a cabinet minister, notwithstanding, Bezos continued to woo India. After the $1 billion investment announcement, he declared to create an additional 10 lakh jobs across the country by 2025, saying he falls in love with India on every visit. This announcement too should have sent a wave of happiness since India's unemployment touched a four-decade high in 2017-18.
During his brief trip, Bezos didn't meet ministers or government functionaries. As per NDTV, the 56-year-old had requested a meeting with PM Modi, but his plea was turned down almost a month ago. "Meeting Jeff Bezos cannot be considered the government's compulsion," sources said.
