“A third party seller, on Amazon, had listed these products for sale in Canada. These products were not available in India. After learning of the product listings, we immediately removed them from the Canadian website and implemented measures to ensure that these products could not be sold on any of our other marketplaces websites,” Vice President and Country Manager, Amazon India, Amit Agarwal wrote to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Amazon’s India representative further wrote that the company "remains steadfastly committed to India, as evidenced by CEO Jeff Bezo’s announcement last year of plans to invest $ 5 billion in India. We value immensely our relationship with the Indian government, the country’s entrepreneurs and innovators and most importantly our Indian customers and employees."
“Amazon India is committed to respecting Indian laws customs. To the extent that these items offered by a third-party seller in Canada offended Indian sensibilities, Amazon regrets the same. At no time did we intend or mean to offend Indian sentiments,” Agarwal further wrote.
In response to EAM @SushmaSwaraj's tweet, @amazon writes to her, expresses regret at hurting Indian sensibilities, pulls offending item pic.twitter.com/tqRcA10CaZ
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) January 12, 2017
Earlier in a series of tweets, Swaraj had described the sale of doormats with the Indian flag as unacceptable. She also warned that Amazon officials would not be given Indian visa and visas given earlier would be rescinded if the company did not withdraw the product and apologize.
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