Amazon Pay to get fund infusion from Amazon India

After getting an approval from the Reserve Bank of India to expand the scope of digital payments business, Amazon India is now preparing to make a strong push into digital payments. It aims to compete with Paytm, PhonePe and Freecharge.

Amazon India is preparing for an increase in its investment in its own payments arm, Amazon Pay by atleast five times. The ecommerce giant has increased its authorized capital for Amazon Pay India Pvt Ltd to Rs.2000 crore from Rs.400 crore. In the filings, Amazon said that the company is in the need of funds for the purpose of expansion of business operations; hence it is necessary to increase the authorized equity share capital in order to accommodate additional fund requirements.

In the last six months, Amazon infused capital into its payments arm as it looks to gain a larger chunk of India’s digital payments ecosystem. Amazon infused Rs.67 crore into the payments arm during May and poured Rs.130 crore into the business in July. These investments are likely to increase in the next one year. The investments are likely to increase in the next one year.

The focus for the company is to make digital payments a trusted and convenient choice for consumers. The company constantly looks for ways to achieve this with partnership in banks, fin tech companies and ecosystem partners. With a commitment to serve India with a long term perspective to make digital payments convenient for the Indian customers, the company is looking to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure. The company is also gearing up to expand the scope of its payments business in India and would soon take shape in the coming months.

Last December, Amazon launched the Pay Balance service to boost cashless transactions. The Pay Balance works in a similar manner to other mobile wallet services and is restricted to transactions on Amazon. Amazon India had applied for a Prepaid Payment Instrument License which it received from the RBI last year.

In an attempt to gain a slice of the digital payments pie in the country, Amazon is investing heavily in technology and infrastructure. Flipkart is also spending millions of dollars towards the expansion of its own payment business PhonePe. It launched an app based on the UPI platform which was a key bet for Flipkart given the problem of payments in online and offline commerce.