TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Floods blamed as gov’t falls behind in set-top box roll-out

      24 June 2022

      Vumacam announces big Jo’burg expansion drive

      24 June 2022

      Eskom crisis spirals: stage-4 power cuts this weekend

      24 June 2022

      Illegal strike at Eskom could make load shedding worse

      24 June 2022

      State capture probe ends but South Africa remains ‘broken’ by corruption

      23 June 2022
    • World

      Amazon has a plan to make Alexa mimic anyone’s voice

      24 June 2022

      Apple, Android phones hacked by Italian spyware

      24 June 2022

      Zendesk nears buyout deal with private equity firms

      24 June 2022

      Crypto crash survivors could become ‘tomorrow’s Amazons’

      23 June 2022

      Tether to launch a stablecoin tied to the British pound

      22 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»E-commerce»Jeff Bezos to face unprecedented protests during India trip

    Jeff Bezos to face unprecedented protests during India trip

    E-commerce By Agency Staff13 January 2020
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. Image: Steve Jurvetson

    Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is likely to be greeted by an unprecedented show of opposition during his short India visit this week, after thousands of small-time local retailers pledged to protest its pricing and exclusive-selling practices.

    The Amazon CEO is slated to headline the inaugural session of Amazon India’s event for small and medium businesses — “smbhav” — which kicks off Wednesday in New Delhi. The billionaire is scheduled to take the stage alongside Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal in a fireside chat, anchoring an event that also features Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and retail billionaire Kishore Biyani, who recently sold a stake in his retail group to Amazon.

    Bezos’s visit underscores India’s growing importance to his company. Competition there is building to record levels as Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, prepares to go live with JioMart and Walmart’s Flipkart Online Services delves deeper into the countryside. Yet resentment is growing toward Amazon’s traditional cut-price approach. More than half-a-million traders representing thousands of trading bodies grouped under the Confederation of All India Traders plan to organise sit-ins and public rallies in 300 cities to protest Bezos’s visit, the group said.

    India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $150-billion by 2022 from $38.5-billion in 2017

    “We will have massive protests across the country and our biggest demonstration will be in Delhi, where we have sought Delhi police’s permission to protest outside the venue of Bezos’s event,” CAIT secretary-general Praveen Khandelwal said.

    The traders plan to mark 15 January — the day of Amazon’s India event — “National Protest Day” and demand that Amazon and other online retailers comply with new guidelines that forbid heavy discounting and exclusive online-only deals. CAIT represents over 70 million small merchants who control more than nine-tenths of the retail trade in a country where big box retailers and chains have yet to penetrate beyond the biggest cities.

    “Bezos and Amazon have already destroyed many small businesses and are now trying to build a false narrative of empowering small retailers,” Khandelwal said during a phone interview from Delhi.

    Starkly different

    Bezos last visited India in 2014 under starkly different circumstances. During the visit, Bezos wore Indian festive clothes, rode atop a festooned truck outside the Amazon India headquarters for a photo opp and presented its Indian unit with a giant check for US$2-billion. Since then, Amazon has pledged a further $3.5-billion to expand in the country. India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $150-billion by 2022 from $38.5-billion in 2017, according to the government’s India Brand Equity Foundation

    But the influential CAIT has waged a battle against online commerce players — notably Amazon and Flipkart — accusing them of using deep pockets to offer discounts on everything from smartphones to apparel. Both retailers have denied the charges and responded by hiring thousands of artisans, women entrepreneurs and small sellers. Bezos has sought meetings with government officials to discuss policy challenges.

    “Traders are enraged that Amazon and its peers are using foreign money and venture capital to fund discounts,” said Sachin Taparia, CEO of New Delhi-based community social platform LocalCircles. “India needs the foreign investment and jobs it will bring, and needs to be seen as pro-big business,” said Taparia. “On the other hand, the ruling party has to ensure that the traders who form its political and electoral support base are not upset.”

    About a year ago, India tightened its e-commerce rules, forbidding online retailers from holding stakes in sellers, owning inventory, heavy discounting or forging exclusive arrangements with brands. Following the changes, both Amazon and Flipkart restructured their local units.

    Bezos is also scheduled to meet with celebrities from India’s Bollywood movie industry in Mumbai as Amazon prepares to invest heavily on content for Indian audiences. Meanwhile, the CAIT has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to put things straight”, Khandelwal said. “We have not heard back from the prime minister’s office and we learn reliably that neither has Bezos got an appointment so far.”  — Reported by Saritha Rai, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP

    Amazon Flipkart Jeff Bezos Walmart
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleMicrosoft ends support for Windows 7
    Next Article Finally, a credible plan to fix Eskom

    Related Posts

    Floods blamed as gov’t falls behind in set-top box roll-out

    24 June 2022

    Vumacam announces big Jo’burg expansion drive

    24 June 2022

    Eskom crisis spirals: stage-4 power cuts this weekend

    24 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Watch | Telviva One: adapting to the requirements of business

    24 June 2022

    Huawei P50 now available for pre-order in South Africa

    23 June 2022

    Calabrio paves way for SA’s cloud contact centre WFO journey alongside AWS

    23 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.