Just days after announcing their plans to launch its own digital wallet services in a bid to make its presence in the payments space , Amazon India has applied for a semi-closed wallet licence with the RBI. The license has been filed under Amazon Online Distribution Services (AODS), a subsidiary of Amazon Asia Pacific Resources.
Amazon is getting into the wallet segment for the first time by starting it in India, showing signs of prospering wallet industry in India. They are the one of the last entrants in this space as against their competitors.
As per RBI, a semi-closed wallet can be used to buy goods and services, including financial services, at clearly identified merchant locations or establishments, which have a specific contract with the issuer to accept the payment instruments.
If approved, Amazon will obtain licence and launch the wallet by middle of 2016. This effectively will place it parallel to current wallet players such as Paytm, Citrus pay and Flipkart money, who function on the semi-closed wallet system too.
