Amazon promises 1 million new jobs in India amid tensions with government

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (O:) said on Friday it planned to create 1 million jobs in India by 2025, a day after the country’s trade minister said the e-commerce giant’s recently unveiled $1 billion investment in the country was no big favor.

Amazon and Walmart’s (N:) Flipkart are facing mounting criticism from India’s brick-and-mortar retailers, which accuse the U.S. giants of violating Indian law by racking up billions of dollars in losses to fund deep discounts and discriminating against small sellers. The companies deny the allegations.

Amazon said it would create new jobs in India through investments in infrastructure, technology and logistics.

“We are investing to create a million new jobs here in India over the next five years,” Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

Bezos, who is currently visiting India, said on Wednesday the company would invest $1 billion to bring small businesses online in the country, adding to the $5.5 billion the company had committed since 2014.

“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,” Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal told a security conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

“So it’s not as if they are doing a great favor to India when they invest a billion dollars,” Goyal had said.

Bezos’ visit to India also comes just days after the Competition Commission of India launched an anti-trust probe to look into the allegations by the brick-and-mortar retailers.

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