Amazon has been forced to remove a doormat depicting the Indian flag from its Canadian store after India’s top diplomat threatened to expel all foreign employees of the online retailer if it did not withdraw the product.

Sushma Swaraj, the country’s external affairs minister, used Twitter to demand Amazon “tender an unconditional apology” and “withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately”, after another user alerted to the listings.

Amazon’s Canadian store offered a range of doormats depicting the Indian flag as well as those of other countries, including the US and the UK. The Indian flag doormats, sold by a third party, were taken down by the site on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Amazon said: “The item is no longer for sale on the site.”

Earlier, Swaraj had asked the Indian high commission in Canada to “take this up with Amazon at the highest level”. She added: “If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant the Indian visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the visas issued earlier.”

The 64-year-old minister, who has nearly seven million followers on the social network, has become well-known for her “Twitter diplomacy”, regularly responding to problems and questions tweeted at her by other users.