Amazon Injects INR 350 Cr Into India Payments Arm

Ecommerce giant Amazon has infused INR 350 Cr into its digital payments arm Amazon Pay India as it looks to scale up its presence in the country’s UPI market. 

According to the MCA filing assessed by Inc42, Amazon Pay issued 35 Cr equity shares at INR 10 apiece to Amazon Corporate Holdings Private Limited and Amazon.com to secure the investment on a rights issue basis.

The development was first reported by the Economic Times. 

In terms of UPI transactions, Amazon Pay was at the 8th position with a total of 111.06 Mn transactions (transaction volume) recorded in the month of March, as per National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data 

While leading fintech platforms PhonePe and Google Pay held 47.25% and 36.04% of the total UPI transactions respectively, Amazon Pay contributed mere 0.6% to the total UPI transactions of 18.30 Bn last month. 

In the UPI race, Flipkart backer fintech app Super.Money took over Amazon in December last year only after five months of its launch in terms of the number of UPI transactions processed.

Last month Super.Money stood at fifth position with 171.75 Mn transaction volume after UPI giants PhonePe, Google Pay, Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm and Sachin Bansal’s Navi. 

The recent capital infusion could be seen as Amazon’s move to boost its fintech platform while other players in the space are slowly moving ahead such as Axis Bank Apps and Cred besides aforementioned ones. 

On the financial front, Amazon Pay India slashed its losses by nearly 39% to INR 911 Cr in the financial year ending March 2024 (FY24) versus a loss of INR 1,499 Cr a fiscal year ago. Its revenues from operations increased 9.2% YoY to INR 2,286.9 Cr during the fiscal under review.

The development came at a time when Flipkart is reportedly in talks to lead a $35-40 Mn funding in its fintech startup Super.money, reported earlier this year. Besides, Super.Money also bought buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech startup BharatX to strengthen its credit offerings, particularly in the checkout financing space in February. 

Another active player in the space, Navi has reinitiated its attempt to go public. The fintech unicorn is having discussions with merchant bankers in a bid to launch its initial public offering (IPO). 

In the month of March, UPI transactions jumped 13.6% in March to 18.30 Bn from 16.11 Bn in February, recording a new all-time high. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the transaction count surged 36% last month. 

While the transaction count has been fluctuating since the past few months, the homegrown UPI is penetrating deeper into India’s digital payment landscape.

Considering this, Amazon is looking to strengthen its payments arm since the sector is booming with new players entering the space and existing players bolstering their platforms. 

In 2024, total UPI transactions surged almost 46% YoY to 17,220 Cr from 11,768 Cr in 2023. The total value of UPI transactions jumped 35% to INR 246.82 Lakh Cr from INR 182.84 Lakh Cr in 2023.