When U.S. cities began telling people to shelter in place, it propelled a huge surge in demand for deliveries from Amazon.com. But when India’s prime minister late last month ordered the country of more than 1.3 billion people to stay home for three weeks, Amazon’s India operations spiraled into chaos.

In some areas, local police began beating people they found on the streets, including Amazon delivery workers, for violating the stay-at-home orders, even though the central government had said workers delivering essential items were exempt from the lockdown. Amazon, like other e-commerce companies operating in India, was forced to close its warehouses and halt deliveries for a few days to protect its workers.