The payments arm of Amazon online distribution services, Amazon Pay India has received a capital infusion of $10 million (Rs 67 crore), less than a month after it received the banking regulator’s approval to operate its own digital wallet in India, shows documents filed by the company with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Amazon has received capital infusion from Amazon Capital Holdings, Singapore, and Amazon.com Inc. Ltd in May 5, as per the documents reviewed by BloombergQuint. The payments arm, which is operated by Amazon Online Distribution Services Pvt Ltd., has also been rebranded to Amazon Pay (India) Pvt Ltd. The e-commerce player said it would help the quicken the payment interface for users, and facilitate “quicker refunds.”
Amazon had applied for a licence to operate a digital wallet last year, and was granted approval on March 22, valid for five years.
Amazon Wants More
Amazon, which entered India in 2013, has invested $2 billion so far as it looks to take on Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart. The company’s founder Jeff Bezos, on a trip to India, had committed an additional $3 billion investment last year.
Amazon India has already launched its Pay Balance service to encourage cashless transactions, which allows customers to maintain a balance for purchases on the platform.
The world’s largest e-commerce player had acquired Noida-based payments solution provider EMVANTAGE Payments Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount in February. It also also roped in former Citibank executive, Sriraman Jagannathan to head its payments business, the same month.
Amazon’s push to enter payments space comes at a time when all major e-tailers, Flipkart, Paytm and Snapdeal, have launched their own wallets. The volume of transactions through prepaid payment instrument (PPI) has also risen, particularly in the months after demonetisation. According to RBI data, volume of payments through PPIs rose from Rs 1,320 crore in November to Rs 2,150 crore in March.
A recent report by advisory firm IMAP, has pegged digital payments in India at $500 billion by 2020.
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