Amazon infuses Rs 1,000 cr into India payments unit

Amazon has infused Rs 1,000 crore into its payments unit in India, Amazon Pay, according to regulatory documents. The fresh infusion is expected to help the company compete more aggressively against rivals like PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.

The shares were allotted to Amazon Corporate Holdings Private Limited and Amazon.com.incs Limited, the documents filed with the corporate affairs ministry and sourced by business intelligence platform Tofler, showed. The date of allotment was October 20, 2021, it added. Amazon did not respond to emailed queries. In April this year, Amazon Pay had received an infusion of Rs 225 crore.

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Amazon has been pumping in millions of dollars across various operations like marketplace, wholesale and payments business as it looks to strengthen its position in the Indian market. In a separate filing, Amazon Pay reported narrowing of loss to about Rs 1,516.4 crore in FY21 from a loss of Rs 1,868.5 crore in the preceding fiscal year. Amazon Pay’s total income for fiscal 2021 grew over 30 per cent to Rs 1,782.6 crore from Rs 1,370 crore in fiscal 2020, as per the Registrar of Companies filing – shared by Tofler.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,716.2 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. Total expenses (excluding depreciation) stood at Rs 3,295.7 crore in FY21 as compared to Rs 3,234.8 crore in FY20, it added. The filing noted that Amazon Pay India received over Rs 925 crore in FY21 from Amazon Corporate Holdings Private Limited and Amazon.com.incs Limited. Amazon Pay India allotted shares to these entities worth Rs 700.1 crore in September 2020 and Rs 225 crore in March 2021, the document said. These entities had pumped Rs 2,705 crore in the financial year 2020 into Amazon Pay.