Amazon Will Create 1 Million Jobs In India, Bezos Says, As Top Minister Calls $1B Investment 'Not A Favor'

Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos on Friday said that the e-commerce company will create 1 million new jobs in India by 2025.

What Happened

"We are investing to create a million new jobs here in India over the next five years," Bezos, who is on a three day visit to the country, said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.

Bezos promised a $1 billion investment in small-and-medium-businesses (SMB) in India on Wednesday. The CEO also said that it would export $10 billion worth of Indian-made goods by 2025.

India's Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal, a key player in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet who isn't known for mincing his words, said that the investment is a practical business matter for Amazon, and the company isn't doing any favors to India.

"[Amazon] may have put in a billion dollars, but if they make a loss of a billion dollars every year, then jolly well will have to finance that billion-dollars. So, it is not as if they are doing a favour to India when they invest a billion dollars," Goyal said Thursday, according to Reuters.

Why It Matters

Bezos' India visit is accompanied by SMB owners protesting across the country against the alleged anti-competitive practices of Amazon and homegrown rival Flipkart, which was acquired by Arkansas-based retailer Walmart Inc. WMT for $16 billion in March 2018.

The Competitive Commission of India on Monday announced a probe into the allegations.

Nevertheless, Amazon's India subsidiary has left no stone unturned in making Bezos' visit to the country appealing to the regulators and the SMB owners.

Bezos has visited the Mahatma Gandhi memorial, made jokes with Bollywood megastars, flown kites with children, and posed with SMB owners from remote villages who are selling on its e-commerce platform, all during the three-day visit than ends Friday.

Amazon also roped in Academy Awards, winning musician A.R. Rahman to perform at its event aimed at promoting Prime Video.

Price Action

Amazon's shares closed 0.85% at %1,877.94 on Thursday.

Photo Credit: Official Instagram Account of Jeff Bezos