Amazon has been on a spree to expand the presence of its digital payments business in India’s competitive market, step-by-step.
Amazon infused a fresh ₹700 crore into its Indian digital payments business Amazon Pay ahead of its month-long festive season event — Great Indian Festival. The fresh funding comes as the second investment as the company had injected ₹1,355 crore in January this year as it scales up to compete with its rivals.
Tie-ups & new features
Amazon Pay and Uber on October 12 announced their partnership that will integrate Amazon Pay as a payment option on the ride-hailing app. India is the first global market where Amazon Pay has been enabled in the Uber app, making this a landmark partnership for both global companies in a market of strategic importance, Uber APAC Director, Business Development Nandini Maheshwari said.
Amazon has been announcing partnerships with various organizations to offer their services in its platform and have been integrating Amazon Pay as an option for payment methods.
Last week, the company partnered with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to let passengers book train tickets. It has been giving cashback offers for first-time users and prime users on their bookings. Amazon Pay users will also get instant refunds in case of cancellations or booking failures, the company said. The train booking offer comes after the company had launched flights and bus ticket bookings last year.
The company recently also launched a new feature that will allow customers to make their credit card bill payments through Amazon Pay. Other digital platforms like Paytm, PhonePe have been offering credit card bill payment option on their apps for a while now.
In June, Amazon Pay had announced the launch of Smart Stores for offline expansion that will allow customers to discover products at local shops, make payments, get EMIs and earn rewards using the platform.
Amazon Pay has been making investments and has raised nearly ₹5,000 crore since its launch in 2016 to cater to every class of Indian users as well as compete with the likes of Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe.
A piece of the pie
As per a report by Bernstein, Amazon Pay was third in the list to lead India’s payments market in May 2020, however, the gap was wide as Google Pay had a solid lead over its rivals, followed by PhonePe.
Amazon’s payment unit may have been a late entrant in the digital payments race in India and is lagging behind its competitors as it slowly processes to stand in the hugely competitive market. However, the company has been ramping up efforts to fill the gap and expand its digital presence in the country just like its retail one.
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