The union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday made a statement that didn’t go well with MNC’s planning to invest hugely in India. Referring to Amazon’s $1 billion investment in Indian market Goyal said that the investment is not a favor to India and could only be considered as a bid to cover-up losses the e-commerce company piled.
The minister’s statement at the Raisina Dialogue on Thursday didn’t go well with top executives of several multinational and Indian companies.“Until now it used to be a matter of pride to announce such big investments into India,” said the chief executive of an MNC. “But if this is the response companies are going to get from the current dispensation, they will think twice before making or announcing investments here.” The top executive of another company said this did not “reflect well” on India. “It will only drive foreign investments away,” he said.
Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos announced a fresh $1 billion investment in India to digitize small businesses in the country as part of an initiative to get them to sell on the marketplace. Soon afterward, Goyal speaking at Raisina security conference sounded unimpressive with his remark at Amazon. He said, “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,” Goyal said. He added, “It’s never a favor to India when they invest a billion dollars”.
Business analysts consider the statement was ill-timed. When the country was battling one of its worst slowdowns in years, investments like these should be welcomed. “Statements like these may impact MNC investor sentiments, especially at a time when the government is trying to promote Make in India 2.0,” he said.
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