Online retailer Amazon invests Rs 450 crore in India digital payments arm

Online retailer Amazon has invested Rs 450 crore in its digital payments arm Amazon Pay (India). The funding would help the Seattle-based company tap India's booming digital payments market and compete with Walmart-owned PhonePe, Alibaba-backed Paytm, and Google's mobile payment service Google Pay. 

The funding came from Singapore-based Amazon Corporate and Mauritius-based entity Amazon.com, according to regulatory documents filed by Amazon, which were sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. 

Amazon Pay got the capital infusion on June 6 by offering 45 crore equity shares. 

This month, Amazon stepped up its investment in India and pumped in Rs 2,800 crore into its marketplace. The fresh investment comes at a time when the firm has signed off from China.   

In December last year, Amazon invested Rs 2,200 crore into its Indian entity.

The digital payments space in India is expected to rise fivefold to reach $1 trillion by 2023, and it would be led by the growth in mobile payments, according to a report by financial services company Credit Suisse.

In April this year, Amazon Pay today announced the launch of person-to-person (P2P) payments for Android users. Amazon customers can make instant bank-to-bank transfers using Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform on the Amazon app. Customers can use this functionality to settle bills and expenses with friends, lend and return money to family. They can also pay rents, pay for services like house-help, newspaper bills and milk subscription. 

Customers can also make payments from their bank account to local stores nearby or to Amazon delivery associate at doorstep by scanning UPI QR codes using the Amazon app. Built on the Government of India backed UPI platform, Amazon said customers can send or receive P2P payments by simply selecting a contact from their phone contact book or entering UPI ID or bank account of the recipient. 

In May this year, Amazon.in announced the launch of domestic flight bookings. Customers can find the flights icon on the Amazon Pay page in the Amazon mobile app and on the website. This launch enables customers to book their domestic flight tickets in addition to shopping, money transfers, utility bill payments, mobile recharges – all in one single app.