At a company event in New Delhi today, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the ecommerce giant is investing $1 billion to digitize small businesses in India. He added the company aims to export goods worth $10 billion by 2025 via the country’s ‘Make in India‘ program.
The news comes just after the Competition Commission of India (CCI), started an investigation into anti-competitive practices of Amazon and its Walmart-owned rival Flipkart earlier this week.
During his visit, Bezos will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had previously met Modi at an event in Washington back in 2016, and later said the company would invest over $5 billion in India in the coming years.
Today, members of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a union of small traders, are set to hold a protest against Amazon in 300 cities, alleging the company of flouting the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules.
@AICPDF support the call from @TEAMCAIT @praveendel @BCBHARTIA to protest against @amazon @jefbezos pic.twitter.com/HNJAEtFMWA
— AICPDF (@AICPDF) January 14, 2020
Last year, the Indian government introduced a law that restricted eCommerce firms from selling their own products. Plus, the new norms asked these companies to cut down on discounts and cashback promotions.