NEW DELHI, July 23 (Reuters) - India's government on Thursday eased foreign investment rules to allow e-commerce companies to buy products directly from Indian sellers and then sell them to overseas customers, a major win for Amazon AMZN.O which lobbied for the change for months.

For years, India has prohibited foreign e-commerce companies from selling goods directly to consumers at home or abroad, allowing them only to operate a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers for a fee. The rule has now been relaxed to boost exports, the government said in a statement.