India privately took Amazon to task over insulting flag doormat

FILE PHOTO: Employees of Amazon India are seen behind a glass bearing the company's logo inside its office in Bengaluru, India, August 14, 2015. REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's reaction to an Amazon.com website selling doormats resembling the country's flag involved an unprecedented public and private offensive against the U.S. company by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, a document shows.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj publicly threatened in January to rescind visas of Amazon employees if the doormats were not removed from its Canadian website.