Charges of dodging laws are malicious: Amazon India to staff
Amazon India head Amit Agarwal has responded to the ongoing controversy over Reuters story, which alleged that the e-commerce giant dodged Indian regulators in circumventing local laws on foreign direct investment in e-commerce.
The story talked about how Amazon has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform, publicly misrepresented its ties with the sellers, and used them to circumvent increasingly tough foreign investment rules that affect e-commerce.
“The story is unsubstantiated, incomplete, factually incorrect. Amazon has always been and remains compliant with all Indian laws,” said Agarwal, global senior vicepresident and country leader for Amazon India, in a letter addressed to the employees, adding, “We haven’t seen the documents and Reuters hasn’t shared provenance to confirm veracity — the details are likely supplied with malicious intent to create sensation and discredit us.”
He said the company remains committed to its pledge to digitise 10-million micro, small and medium enterprises, enable $10 billion in exports, and create incremental 1 million jobs by 2025.
Amazon has so far committed over $6.5 billion to the India market.
Agarwal said the truth is that it takes the responsibilities of its customers and selling partners very seriously. The company has made substantial investments to digitise hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and businesses, helping them scale nationally and globally. The firm recently launched the STEP programme to make it easier for selling partners to track and improve their performance on Amazon with a clear road map to progress across different levels of benefits, irrespective of their size or duration on the marketplace.
“We are single-mindedly focused on using technology to digitally empower businesses of all sizes, in a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner, so that they can realise their true potential,” said Agarwal.
The firm said it is aware of the government’s focus on small traders and works hard to bring the benefits of digitisation to them. Its I Have Space and Amazon Easy programmes allow neighbourhood stores to grow with the company as logistics partners, pick-up points, and customer experience centres.
In 2020, the firm launched Local Shops on Amazon, enabling a digital presence for local stores. In a short time, tens of thousands of shops have blurred the lines between online and offline.