E-commerce major Amazon India’s payments arm, Amazon Pay, has received capital infusion of ₹230 crore from Singapore-headquartered Amazon Corporate Holdings and Mauritius-headquartered Amazon.com.incs Ltd.
The money, which was allotted on June 28, 2018 as per RoC data accessed by business intelligence platform paper.vc , was timed to bankroll discounts, cash-back offers, and marketing and customer acquisition costs for its global members-only ‘Prime Day Sale’. Amazon has over 100 million Prime members across 17 countries. In India, every third order on Amazon is a Prime one.
Prime Day discounts
For the second edition of its 36-hours Prime Day Sale in India, Amazon has unveiled 200 new products such as the OnePlus 6 Red, Intel 8th Gen gaming laptops, Nestlé NesPlus breakfast cereals, season’s styles by Marks & Spencer, Bosch microwave ovens, ASICS shoes and LEGO Taj Mahal. The discounts range from 30 to 90 per cent.
Customers can save 10 per cent on loading Amazon Pay balance up to ₹300. They will receive cash-back in the form of Amazon Pay balance in three days. Deals for those using Amazon Pay include up to ₹150 cash-back on movie tickets and food orders and up to ₹1,600 cash-back on flight tickets.
Customers can also avail 10 per cent instant discount on purchases made through HDFC Bank credit/debit cards, with up to ₹10,000 cash-back on purchases above ₹50,000 made through HDFC Bank cards. Shoppers can opt to become Prime members at an annual subscription of ₹999 or at ₹129 for a one-month membership.
Amazon had infused ₹67 crore, ₹130 crore and ₹260 crore respectively in May, July and September 2017, and ₹195 crore in March 2018, into Amazon Pay. With the latest capital infusion, Amazon Pay has raised ₹882 crore.
Amazon Pay balance was launched in December 2016 to encourage cashless transactions on Amazon.in, a month after demonetisation kicked in. Last April, Amazon India received RBI approval for an e-wallet licence, which customers can use across categories of products and for mobile recharges, DTH payments, utility payments including electricity and water bills. The e-tailer has seen a huge jump in digital transactions from 40 per cent post demonetisation to 60 per cent today.