Amazon is considering spinning off its payments service, Amazon Pay, into a separate app in India, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.
The move aims to increase the use of Amazon Pay, which is currently integrated within the company’s main e-commerce app. Amazon Pay offers a range of services including money transfers, bill payments, insurance purchases, mutual fund investments, digital gold transactions, and travel bookings.
The decision to create a standalone app has been under consideration for about a year, and Amazon plans to proceed in the coming months, with discussions already underway with the National Payments Corporation of India for approval, one source said.
Some Amazon executives believe that the payments service is not receiving sufficient visibility within the e-commerce app and that a dedicated app could enhance its profile and usage in the country. However, the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions, warned that Amazon might still change or abandon its plans due to other challenges in the Indian market.
Amazon Pay is currently ranked sixth on the Unified Payments Interface, which is the leading online transaction network in India. In July, Amazon Pay handled approximately 72.4 million transactions, accounting for about 0.5% of the total UPI transactions. In comparison, competitors such as Walmart’s PhonePe and Google Pay processed 6.9 billion and 5.3 billion transactions, respectively.
Amazon is not alone in exploring similar strategies. Its main competitor, Flipkart, recently consolidated its fintech services into a single vertical after separating from PhonePe two years ago.
