Amazon India steps up insurance and credit biz, riding on its payments app

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is eyeing to tap multiple sectors in the country ranging from insurance, wealth management to credit through its digital payments arm Amazon Pay. The Jeff Bezos-led firm is making inroads in India’s booming digital payments market and competing with Walmart-owned PhonePe, Alibaba-backed Paytm, and Google’s mobile payment service Google Pay.

“We are making inroads into these spaces,” said Mahendra Nerurkar, CEO and MD for Amazon Pay India, during a fireside chat at Global Fintech Fest 2020 on Wednesday night. “Buying insurance is typically not an easy purchase. There’s a lot of fine print. So, a lot of customer feedback is can you ‘Amazonify insurance’ and make it very simple. That problem statement really energizes us.”