A day after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal snubbed him during a public event, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos on Friday announced that the e-commerce giant will create 1 million new jobs in India by 2025 through continued investments in technology, infrastructure, and its logistics network.
The new expected jobs are on top of the 700,000 jobs Amazon has already created in the country since 2013 — thus totaling 1.7 million Amazon direct and indirect jobs by 2025, the company said in a statement.
On Thursday, Goyal commented on Bezos announcement, saying Amazon is not doing India a favor by investing a billion dollars but also raised concerns if its losses were a result of predatory pricing and if Amazon and Flipkart were gaining entry into multi-brand retail by using loopholes.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogues in Mumbai, Goyal tore into the MNC e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart, signaling a very strong government and policy intent to scrutinize their practices which traders and others have been protesting against.
More importantly, alluding to the $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,094 crores) investment announced by Bezos in India, Goyal had a different take.
“(If) they have made a loss of a billion dollars than they jolly well have to finance the billion dollars.
On Wednesday, Bezos announced that the company plans to invest $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,094 crores) to help bring 10 million traders and micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) across India online, enabling $10 billion (roughly Rs. 70,940 crores) in cumulative exports by 2025 and supporting India’s economic diversification.
