Amazon India has announced the launch of a bill payments facility as part of its Amazon Pay platform, enabling recharges and payments for various utilities, including electricity, landline, broadband, gas & telephone (both mobile and landline). More than 100 companies are already said to be on-board, including BSES, Tata Power, BSNL, BESCOM, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio, ACT Fibernet, Hathway, IGL, MGL and more.
The retail giant is also offering exclusive promotional offers, including a 10 percent cashback up to Rs. 75 on electricity bills and a 10 percent cashback up to Rs. 50 on broadband and telephone bills.
The company is also offering discounts on prepaid recharges, including a Rs. 50 rebate on a minimum recharge of Rs. 198 and a Rs.75 discount on a minimum recharge of Rs. 398. While those offers are available only for the first recharge on the platform, subsequent recharges are also reportedly eligible for discounts of up to Rs. 30.
In a press statement, Shariq Plasticwala, the Director of Payments at Amazon said, “The launch of bill payments on Amazon reinforces Amazon’s commitment to Indian customers to provide them new categories and a wide selection of services. We shall continue to innovate on behalf of customers as we simplify the payments experience in India. We now have all the major categories across mobile recharges and bill payments available for customers”.
The latest development comes amidst news that the US retail giant has acquired all-in-one app platform, Tapzo, in a deal valuing the startup between $40 million and $45 million. Tapzo had earlier received investments from heavyweights like Sequoia Capital, Singapore-based RB Investments and Ru-Net among others.
