Trouble For Amazon Continues, DEA Secretary Issues Warning To Behave

Looks like Amazon hasn’t had a very good start to this new year in India. Being in the limelight for allegedly ‘disrespecting’ India’s national flag, and being called out for the same by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter, now Shaktikanta Das, Secretary of Economic Affairs India has issued a warning to the ecommerce giant via Twitter.

Amazon,better behave. Desist from being flippant about Indian symbols & icons. Indifference will be at your own peril.

— Shaktikanta Das (@DasShaktikanta) January 15, 2017

The Secretary in his tweet said, “Amazon, better behave. It should desist from being flippant about Indian symbols and icons.” In addition to that, he also cautioned it regarding the consequences the company will have to bear for the same.

His second tweet said: “Comment on amazon was as a citizen of India as I felt strongly about it. Nothing more should be read into it.”

Comment on amazon was as a citizen of India as I felt strongly about it. Nothing more should be read into it.

— Shaktikanta Das (@DasShaktikanta) January 15, 2017

The DEA Secretary took to Twitter to express his discontent with the incident. He followed on to say that India will keep working towards economic reforms, ease of doing business, and open trade. “Sometimes get touchy when our icons are involved,” he added.

Remain committed to economic reforms,ease of doing business & open trade.Sometimes get touchy when our icons are involved.

— Shaktikanta Das (@DasShaktikanta) January 15, 2017

Amazon has been subjected to controversy, when after a Twitter user shared that company’s Canadian unit was selling doormats bearing the likeness of the Indian flag. Indian sentiment has usually been very sensitive towards the disrespect of its national symbols and disrespect to the national flag is a punishable offence in India involving a three-year jail term and a fine or both.

Following the Secretary’s tweets, as per a report by Financial Express, the MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “The External Affairs Minister immediately responded seeking an apology from Amazon and asking for the offending item to be removed. Within one day, the Vice President and Country Head of Amazon wrote to her expressing regret and indicating that the item had been pulled from the website.”

“We appreciate the prompt response from Amazon and hope that such incidents are not repeated in the future,” the statement added.

In December last year, newly appointed Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy alleged Amazon of copying its moves, in his capacity as Head of Advertising and commerce platform. In the same month, Chennai-based edtech startup Flintobox filed a legal notice against Amazon. The company claimed that Amazon illegally used the former’s brand name as a keyword to drive traffic to its own website.