After Walmart, Amazon Lobbies In U.S. For Indian FDI

By siliconindia | Monday, 03 February 2014, 10:25 Hrs

Washington: After supermarket giant Walmart, it is online retail major Amazon which has begun lobbying with the U.S. lawmakers to seek their support for facilitating its "foreign direct investment in India".

According to lobby disclosure reports filed with the US Senate, Amazon.com and its group entities including Amazon Corporate LLC have been lobbying on various issues since at least year 2000.

However, it was only in the last quarter, ended December 31, 2013, when its lobbying issues included "foreign direct investment in India", shows the latest disclosure report dated January 22, 2014.

During this quarter, Amazon spent a total amount of $ 960,000 (over Rs six crore) on numerous lobbying issues, which included "issues related to free trade agreements", "Transaltantic Trade and Investment Partnership", as also matters relating to various Acts and proposals in the U.S..

Among others, Amazon lobbied with the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, the Department of State and the U.S. House of Representatives on these issues.

Source: PTI