Amazon infuses Rs 150 crore in payments business

BENGALURU: In an indication of Amazon's desire to build a bigger payments business in India, the authorised share capital of Amazon's payments arm in the country, Amazon Online Distribution Services ( AODS), has been increased to Rs 400 crore from Rs 69 crore.

The company has also received capital infusion of Rs150 crore, documents filed last month with the regulatory authority pointed out. The infusion was done in September last year. Increasing the authorised share capital means a higher number of stocks can be issued to raise funds after shareholder approval.

Amazon acquired payment gateway firm Emvantage in February last year, its first acquisition in India. Amazon rival Flipkart launched its wallet called PhonePe early last year. Flipkart is projecting it as a major business vertical. Amazon, via AODS, had also applied for a semi-closed wallet license with the RBI last year. An email to Amazon on the capital infusion did not elicit any response. Amazon India had in September 2015 started offering payments and logistics services, allowing merchants to sell through their own websites using "Pay With Amazon". Former Citibanker Sriraman Jagannathan was hired last year for the payments business.

According to a study by Google and consulting firm BCG, the payments market in India is expected to swell to $500 billion by 2020. Amazon Seller Services, which runs the core commerce business of Amazon India, has been aggressively investing in India. The company received over Rs 7,000 crore last year. Major e-commerce companies have all ventured into the payments business. Snapdeal acquired Freecharge in April 2015.