Special Report: Amazon documents reveal company’s secret strategy to dodge India’s regulators
In early 2019, Jay Carney, a senior executive at Amazon.com Inc and former press secretary to U.S. President Barack Obama, was set to meet with India’s ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. The Indian government had recently announced foreign direct investment regulations that could disrupt Amazon’s business in the country. Before the meeting, Amazon employees created a draft note for Carney, which was reviewed by Reuters. The note advised Carney to emphasize the fact that Amazon had invested more than $5.5 billion in India and how it provided an online platform for 400,000-plus Indian sellers. However, it cautioned him not to reveal that 33 Amazon sellers accounted for about a third of the value of all goods sold on the company’s website, as this information was deemed “Sensitive/not for disclosure.”0
