Amazon India to launch mobile wallet for Indian consumers

India: Amazon India is planning to enter into the online payment business by launching its mobile wallet. The recent information depicts that the company likely to adopt the inorganic growth strategy and willing to acquire mobile wallet firm to venture into this space. The company has already started interacting with digital wallet and payment startups.

It is anticipated that Amazon India mobile wallet and other online payment services will be launched for Indian consumers within next three to four months.

Amazon launched digital wallet to its customers in the United States in the year 2014, however, it got shut down within six months.

However, every country has different dynamics and trends. Hence, Amazon India hired the former Citi Bank executive Sriraman Jagannathan in February, who is currently heading the company payments business, and likely to lead the digital wallet initiative.

According to TechSci Research, eCommerce players are entering into online payment space either by launching its own wallet or by acquiring online payment service provider startups. Last year, Snapdeal acquired Freecharge; recently Flipkart launched its own wallet Flipkart Money and now Amazon is taking the same path by planning to enter into the digital wallet space.

The recent report on mobile wallet by TechSci Research, “India Mobile Wallet Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020” mobile wallet market in India is projected to reach US$ 6.6 billion by 2020. The mobile wallet market in India is projected to exhibit exponential growth during the forecast period, on account of growing usage of mobile wallet across various applications such as money or banking transactions, mobile recharge & bill payments, ticket bookings, utility applications, etc. In addition, approval of payment bank licenses of major companies such as Paytm, Vodafone, Airtel, etc. is projected to drive growth in the number of banking transactions through mobile wallet over the next five years.