One of Amazon’s first moves in India was to try to entice its two famous alumni back. Four years after striking out on their own, Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal had built Flipkart into a nationally recognized brand that sold not only books but mobile phones, CDs, and DVDs. Amit Agarwal met his former employees at the upscale ITC Maurya hotel in central Delhi to discuss an acquisition. Feeling confident about their progress, the Bansals asked for $1 billion. Agarwal scoffed at the amount, and the talks fell through. After the Bansals thumbed their noses at Amazon, Agarwal started to build a
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