Amazon Steps Up U.S. Lobbying For Indian FDI

WASHINGTON: After supermarket giant Walmart, it is online retail major Amazon which appears to be lobbying hard with U.S. lawmakers to seek their support for facilitating its “foreign direct investment in India”.

According to the latest lobbying disclosure reports filed with the U.S. Senate, Amazon lobbied for the second straight quarter during the January-March period of 2014 on issues related to foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in India.

Walmart has halted its India-specific lobbying for the second consecutive quarter, although it continues to lobby on issues related to “Walmart operations in international markets”.

According to Amazon’s lobbying disclosure report for the first quarter of 2014, matters related to “foreign direct investment in India” figure among numerous specific lobbying issues discussed by Amazon Corporate LLC and its registered lobbyists with the U.S. lawmakers.     

Amazon, which is aggressively expanding its presence in the Indian online retail market, lobbied on issues related to Indian FDI during the October-December quarter of 2013 also, shows the Congressional records of lobby disclosure reports.     

The other matters on which Amazon lobbied during the last quarter include issues related to mobile payments, unmanned aerial vehicles, free trade agreements, high-skilled immigration, online wine sales, taxes and cyber security. Amazon is discussing issues related to Indian FDI, among other matters, with the members of the US Senate, the US Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, the Department of State and the US House of Representatives.

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