Direct selling company Amway has said it pays its business owners only for sale of products and not for recruiting more people into the business. In 2010, Amway India paid Rs 494 crore as commissions and bonuses to its distributors in India.
Speaking at a press conference at Thiruvananthapuram recently, William S Pinckney, managing director and CEO, Amway India, said the company was surprised at the false information that is being spread in Kerala.
"The allegations that our business operations are closed in Andhra Pradesh; that we pay to distributors outside of India from the revenues we earn here are completely false and baseless. We continue to maintain normal business operations across the country since the time we commenced commercial operations in India in 1998. We stand committed to our business owners upholding the ethics of legitimate direct selling," he said.
The company said that almost 90 per cent of the products sold by Amway in India are manufactured within the country through seven third-party contract manufacturers. Amway does not have its own production facility in India.
It said the revenues earned in India are utilized for further investments like infrastructure expansion, upgrading, investments in marketing and advertising. It has recently invested Rs 55 crore to triple the production capacity at the manufacturing facility, and has a presence in 135 towns and cities, 55 warehouses, and 12 brand experience centres.
He pointed out that the complaints against Amway pertained to unsold products from 2002 and 2003. “Had the consumers approached the company, they would have been refunded as Amway offers a comprehensive 100 per cent money back guarantee on both the business opportunity and products," he said.
Amway India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the 50-year-old, $9.2 billion Amway Corporation of USA.
The company commenced commercial operations in India in May 1998, after approval of its business model by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The company has invested Rs 151 crore in India, and has 135 offices and 55 city warehouses across the country.
