E-commerce behemoth Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Friday said that it planned to create one million new jobs in India over the next five years. He spoke about this in an open letter addressed to customers, sellers and partners and posted on the Amazon.in the landing page.
The new jobs - created directly and indirectly - will be spread across industries, including IT, skill development, content creation, retail, logistics, and manufacturing, the letter said.
The letter comes close on the heels of comments from Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal yesterday, where he said the firm is not doing any favours to India by the investments.
Bezos is on a trip to India and had promised to invest $1 billion in the country at an Amazon event on Wednesday. He had also said that he said would bring small and medium businesses online and committed to exporting $10 billion worth of India-made goods by 2025.
The letter also stated that more than 550,000 businesses are using the online platform. It added that more than 60,000 businesses are exporting Indian goods, with cumulative exports exceeding $ 1 billion.
Goyal's comments yesterday mirror the government's cold-shouldering of Bezos. In the course of this visit, he is yet to meet any top government official. Moreover, It has been shadowed by the Competition Commission of India initiating a formal investigation into alleged deep discounts, preferential listing and exclusionary tactics adopted by e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart.
"The boundless energy, innovation, and grit of the Indian people always inspire me. I am excited to share that we will invest an incremental $1 billion to digitize micro and small businesses in cities, towns, and villages across India, helping them reach more customers than before. As part fo this initiative, we will use Amazon's global footprint to enable $10 billion in exports of Indian products to the rest of the world by 2025. Our investment in India will create an additional 1 million jobs across the country by 2025. It is still Day 1," Bezos said in the letter.
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