Amazon Adapts to New India Rules, But Uncertainty Remains

Days ago, top sellers on Amazon’s India website removed hundreds of thousands of product listings from the site to comply with new government regulations in the country, in what seemed like a perilous development. But on Thursday, after Amazon scrambled to restructure its relationship with one of those top sellers, some of those products were again for sale on its India site.

That doesn’t mean Amazon is in the clear in India, a country regarded as one of the most promising growth opportunities for American internet retailers but one that has shown a growing determination to thwart their domination of the market. Recent reports from Morgan Stanley predicted the new government rules could deepen the long-term operating losses for Amazon and Walmart from their Indian internet businesses, while giving a boost to domestic e-commerce competitors.