When you hear of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's India visit, one of the images that's likely to cross your mind is that of him waving from the driver's seat of a festooned truck in the backdrop of the iconic World Trade Centre in Bengaluru. The picture was taken when Bezos last visited India in 2014, around the time India started emerging as the next stop for e-commerce market.
Bezos kickstarted his India tour by paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on Tueday. On Wednesday, he released a video of him flying kites with kids on the occassion of Makar Sankranti. Clad in an onion pink kurta, he can be seen interacting with the children whom he calls his "kite-flying instructors". "Any day is a good day when you get to fly a kite. #ThankYouIndia," he captioned the video released on Instagram. Bezos sure knows how to get eyeballs in India, even when most of the details on his India visit is under the wraps.
Later in the day, during an interaction with Indian small and medium scale businesses, he announced that Amazon will be investing $1 billion in digitising small and medium businesses in India. He also added that the company will use its global footprint to export $10 billion worth of 'Make In India' goods by 2025.
These annoucements were preceded by Amazon announcing that it has pumped over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India. Clearly, Bezos sees huge opportunity in the country.
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Bezos's India tour comes at a time when Amazon India has been slapped with a Competition Commission of India probe for alleged malpractices, including deep discounting and tie-ups with preferred sellers on their platforms. The e-commerce major has also been at the receiving end of traders' body, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), for its "unethical business module".
Bezos is slated to meet top government functionaries and business leaders during his India tour. Reportedly, he has sought an appointment from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but there is yet no confirmation regarding the same.
According to The New York Times, Bezos's itinerary also includes Mumbai, where he is expected to rub elbows with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and director Zoya Akhtar.
