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CAIT condemns US Mission remarks about Commerce Minister
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SME Times News Bureau | 23 May, 2021
Taking a strong note of a media story released by a
global wire Agency titled "U.S. defended Amazon after article showed
company bypassed Indian law" of May 21, the Confederation of All India
Traders (CAIT) has strongly condemned the most uncalled for remarks of
US Mission in India about Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal
protecting misdeeds of Amazon.
As per media story of the wire
agency, the US Embassy in India in an internal email purported &
reportedly sent by Thomas Carnegie, a U.S. embassy official in New
Delhi, to John Kerry, one of President Joe Biden's top envoys in
reference to questionable business practices of Amazon said, "This could
come up in the call since as you know Minister Goyal is prone to bring
up tangential topics,".
It is most striking that the note was
prepared by Carnegie, a U.S. embassy official in New Delhi, defending
Amazon India's business illegal practices which have come under the lens
of regulatory and enforcement agencies in India.
In the letter
to Goyal, CAIT further said that this is not the first time that the
country has been humiliated. As per the same global wire agency in
another story titled "Test the Boundaries", released about three months
back, it was reported that an internal note of Amazon referred to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi as 'not an intellectual or an academic person'
thereby attempted to reduce the stature as the Prime Minister of the
world's largest democracy. The validity of this story can easily be
established that although more than 4 months have passed and the global
wire agency has levelled serious charges against Amazon but no
substantial action has been taken by Amazon to deny the contents of the
said media story.
CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia and
Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a joint statement issued here
said, "We strongly deplore both Amazon and the US Mission in India for
creating the note to defend Amazon's position and its illegal business
practices after a prominent section of our media exposed Amazon's
illegal, unfair and discriminatory business practices and its violation
of wide-ranging Indian laws.The sweeping statement made in the reported
e-mail is a blatant attack on the dignity and integrity of the
Government of India and reeks of seemingly vested interests that the US
Mission in India has in Amazon.".
Both Bhartia and Khandelwal
said that it is not just unusual but also unwarranted for the US Embassy
to make such remarks against a Cabinet Minister whose reputation
precedes him and is an attack on the functioning of a sovereign nation
and its Government. It is also unusual that the purpose of such a remark
is to defend a private company and its long-standing illegal, unfair
and discriminatory practices.
"It is unimaginable to see how a
foreign private company can make such staggering remarks about our Prime
Minister, Government of India or any of its cabinet ministers,
especially in a country that is largest democracy of the world and is
stated to be one of its biggest markets and become one of its top 5
markets in terms of revenue by 2023", CAIT said.
CAIT said that
Amazon has been at the forefront of destroying the backbone of the
Indian retail industry i.e. Kirana Retail yet it regularly makes an
attempt to paint a picture in which it portrays itself as a saviour of
small and medium merchants and traders.
Amazon's cat and mouse
game with the Government of India has been going on for a long time and
it has been indulging in creative structuring of its entities and
associated business enterprises to control inventory and subsequently,
prices in e-commerce which is expressly prohibited by the FDI Policy.
Owing to its ruthless and discriminatory business practices, there are
active investigations ongoing by the Competition Commission of India
(CCI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and before the courts of law,
CAIT said.
Bhartia and Khandelwal said that it is pertinent to
note that India has always welcomed foreign governments and industry
with open arms and has created a conducive environment for business to
thrive in India. While the Government of India and its functionaries are
working tirelessly to engage and facilitate business in India, these
foreign governments and private foreign companies are making a mockery
of the establishment based out of their deep-rooted prejudices against
India and its highest functionaries, CAIT said.
"Amazon and the
U.S. Mission in India should be warned to desist from their interference
in Indian Policy and its enforcement and also from their utterly
irresponsible and derogatory remarks made against the PM and your good
self", CAIT said in the letter to Goyal.
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