Amazon Eyes Independent App for Amazon Pay in India.
Amazon is exploring the possibility of launching Amazon Pay as a standalone app in India, according to three sources familiar with the situation. This move aims to enhance the visibility and usage of Amazon Pay, which is currently integrated within Amazon’s main e-commerce app.
Amazon Pay provides a range of services including money transfers, bill payments, insurance purchases, mutual fund investments, digital gold purchases, and travel bookings. Despite its wide range of features, the service has not achieved the desired level of prominence within the e-commerce app, leading some Amazon executives to believe that a dedicated app could better spotlight the payment platform.
The plan to separate Amazon Pay from the e-commerce app has been under consideration for about a year and might be implemented in the coming months. However, the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions, noted that Amazon’s plans could change, and the company might choose to abandon the idea.
Currently, Amazon Pay ranks sixth among apps on India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), handling approximately 72.4 million transactions in July, which represents about 0.5% of the total transactions on the network. In comparison, PhonePe and Google Pay dominate the market with significantly higher transaction volumes—PhonePe processed 6.9 billion transactions, while Google Pay handled 5.3 billion.
The move comes amid a broader trend where other major players in India are reevaluating their fintech strategies. For example, Flipkart recently consolidated its financial technology services into a single vertical, two years after separating from PhonePe, reflecting a shift away from the “superapp” model that has seen limited success in the Indian market.
