tech2 News Staff

Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos arrived in India on Tuesday, according to a post on his Twitter account, as thousands of small traders across 300 cities planned protests, claiming the firm is distorting local retail market.

Bezos, dressed in an Indian attire, paid his regards at a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, a video posted on Bezos’ Twitter account showed.

The billionaire e-commerce magnate, who is on a three-day visit, will attend a company event in New Delhi and is also likely to meet senior government officials, sources have said.

Just landed in India and spent a beautiful afternoon paying my respects to someone who truly changed the world. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi. pic.twitter.com/xDXAT9cBgf — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 14, 2020

India’s antitrust chief Ashok Kumar Gupta told Reuters on Tuesday that big e-commerce companies in India should not offer deep discounts which can potentially hurt and small-scale brick and mortar retailers in India.

Hundreds and thousands of small brick-and-mortar retailers, led by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), have planned a countrywide protest against the company.

Even on his post about his arrival in the country, many people showed protest.

AMAZON GO BACK pic.twitter.com/dmg9JGH4Ti — AJIT JAGTAP (@ajitjagtap_15) January 14, 2020

Amazon is guilty of violating indian laws pic.twitter.com/UR9SnbRGYG — vinod nathani (@vinodjalaram) January 14, 2020

CAIT has also accused Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart of violating India’s foreign investment rules. The companies have denied the allegations.

On Monday, the Indian government also ordered an investigation of Amazon.com Inc and Walmart’s Flipkart over alleged violations of competition law in the latest setback for US e-commerce giants operating in the country.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it was ordering a wider probe following a review of allegations that Amazon and Flipkart were promoting some “preferred sellers” and in turn hurting business for other, smaller sellers.

With inputs from Reuters