E-commerce giant Amazon has invested around Rs 67 crore in Amazon Online Distribution services through its Singapore-based Amazon capital Holding and Amazon.com, Mauritius.
The company has renamed Amazon Online Distribution Services to Amazon Pay (India). Amazon India acquired the Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) licence from Reserve Bank of India in March 2015 which is valid for five years. The e-commerce giant said it would help in faster payment interface for its users and will facilitate funds quickly.
Amazon India spokesperson told BW, “Our focus is providing customers with a convenient and trusted cashless payments experience. We recently launched Amazon Pay where customers can fund their pre-paid balance using internet banking and credit or debit card for smooth purchases and payments. With this, customers can go cashless and enjoy fast and easy checkouts, quicker refunds coupled with a secured shopping experience only on Amazon.in. We will continue to look for ways to improve customer experience and increasing digital payments leveraging our PPI license.
“Amazon Great India Sale May 2017 was the largest for this year and saw a large number of customers chose cashless transactions than ever before. There was significant growth in Amazon Pay balance usage with 10X customers loading money into the Amazon Pay during the sale period.”
Amazon had acquired Emvantage Payments Pvt Ltd, a Noida-based payment solutions company in February while bringing in Sriraman Jagannathan, a former administrator in IDFC bank to lead its payments business. Amazon is pushing to enter payments banking space at a time when all major online players like Paytm, Snapdeal and Flipkart have launched their own wallets.
The volume of digital payments via PPI has increased multifold after demonetization and the government’s initiative for Digital India to push for online transactions.
According to RBI data, the volume of payments through PPIs rose from Rs 1,320 crore in November to Rs 2,150 crore in March.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been constantly emphasising on developing its business in India. Amazon started its operations in India in 2013 and initially invested $2 billion in the country. Later, Jeff Bezos dedicated a further $3 billion after the first quarter result in June last year, taking the total investment in the country to $5 billion.
BW Reporters
The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.
