Bezos meets PM, wraps up India visit

Discusses prospects of e-commerce sector, Amazon's India plans and policy issues related to foreign investment and taxation

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of American e-commerce major Amazon, wrapped up his week-long India visit after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. That was Bezos' last stop in India, a market where the $75-billion company has aggressive expansion plans, before heading to the airport and flying to Seattle.

This was one of those rare occasions when the Amazon boss wore a dark suit and a tie, as he sat with Modi discussing the prospects of the e-commerce sector, the company's India plans and policy issues related to foreign investment and taxation, it is learnt. Amazon did not talk about what transpired in the meeting.

When Bezos was asked about his visit to India coinciding with Modi's trip to the US, the Amazon founder had said in an interview to Business Standard on Sunday, ''I know, we are keeping the world balanced.'' He did not tell he would meet Modi after the PM returned. Amazon did not reveal the meetings lined up with the government. ''I don't know yet, but I would always be happy to. We have a team that plans those things. '' Bezos had said he would ''always love to meet'' Modi.

He is very respected internationally and seen as a very practical and good leader, Bezos said.

Soon after the Bezos-Modi meeting early evening that lasted about half an hour, the Prime Minister's Office tweeted about it. Within minutes it was re-tweeted and commented on by hundreds of followers. One such follower said, ''Jeff to PM -- Sir I promise to keep wide range of Modi kurta on our home page with unbelievable discount !!!'' Another said, ''Narendra Modi and Jeff Bezoz pursued their goals without caring much for the chatter class. Respect to both''.

A source said that Bezos was accompanied by his top India team in his meeting with Modi. The PM, who has many times highlighted the growth prospects of Indian e-commerce for beating traditional trade, is learnt to have discussed foreign investment in this sector with Bezos. Currently, foreign investment is not permitted in Indian e-commerce, thereby forcing companies such as Amazon to operate the marketplace format in the country as against inventory-based model.

The foreign investment rules do not apply to the marketplace model because this is about offering a technology platform to retailers to sell their products, rather than storing, warehousing and selling itself in the inventory format. Tricky taxation rules also came up in the meeting with the PM as e-commerce companies including Amazon have faced the issue in the recent past, according to a source.   

Bezos has however said in his several interactions during the past week that though the common perception is that there are many obstacles in doing business in India, Amazon's experience has been different. But when asked whether doing business was easy in India, he said, ''doing business is not easy anywhere. Every country has its quirks, differences and uniqueness, and companies must work around them.

The picture of Bezos and Modi, posted by the PMO, shows the two laughing. Much has been talked about Bezos'explosive laugh, and it surely didn't escape Modi.