Amazon Pay to facilitate loans for Kiranas - Business2Business

A senior company executive said Amazon Pay will facilitate small loans and insurance for Kirana stores and allow offline business partners to create their own QR codes using the Amazon Pay for Business app to receive payments from customers.

Amazon India's Financial Services and Payments arms claim to have registered nearly 5 million merchants on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

"When we think of small financial services, Kirana has become an essential part of the long tail of merchants; we want to extend these services as well. However, we are happy to be a conducive market for these services, with banks, lenders, and other financial institutions doing a good job providing these services, "Amazon Pay India Director and CEO Mahendra Nerurkar in an interview.

Amazon, which has been exploring the digital opportunity in Kiranas, recently said it plans to bring 1 million live retailers and stores to its platform by 2025 through its 'Local Shops' program, which aims to help local stores to settle online.

As Amazon Pay looks to introduce new services into its business app, Nerurkar said, it is still trying to understand the right product market for its new Kirana store offerings.

"The two main areas of Amazon Pay are 'digitizing cash' and expand their credit offering. We want to enable customers to increase consumption and provide credit in a responsible way. The moment you digitize a customer's cash, you can offer them more services later. This also applies, in small and medium-sized companies, "said Nerurkar.

Amazon Pay launched a "smart store" last year, allowing users to scan QR codes at offline stores and begin browsing products. Nerurkar said that Amazon is discovering ways to also help these merchants achieve a stronger online presence in the Amazon marketplace.

Recently, Amazon India acquired retail startup Perpule to help Kirana partners digitally manage and automate inventory, dealer purchase orders, and invoices.

For the past year, Amazon leveraged its logistics fleet to help customers load cash into their wallets at their doorstep. In addition, it has also launched specially tailorp-made offers in partnership with CapitalFloat to help clients pay with credit.

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