Goyal-Amazon row: UKIBC says e-commerce sector misunderstood, India should welcome investments

MUMBAI: The Indian government is responsive to concerns expressed by businesses but needs to do more to attract investments into sectors such as e-commerce, the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) has said. The comments from the lobby grouping come after there was a sharp criticism of Goyal for saying Amazon was not doing India a favour by the investment announcement. India’s GDP growth is set to slow to a decadal low of 5 per cent for 2019-20 and all eyes are set on the strategy deployed by the government in the upcoming Budget.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said the e-commerce major will invest USD 1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore) in digitising small and medium businesses in India.

Declining to comment specifically on the impact on investors because of Goyal’s comments, UKIBC Chief Executive Officer Richard Heald told here that the e-commerce sector has a tremendous potential, especially for the smaller businesses, who get a platform to sell their wares.