MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Amazon Launches Digital Insurance, Gold Investing in India

Amazon, a US-based retailer and technology company, recently broadened the services it offers in India to include auto insurance sold via the Amazon Pay digital wallet and gold investment products sold through SafeGold, a service of Digital Gold India that allows its users to buy and sell gold online. Amazon launched Amazon Pay in India in 2016 and “has since introduced a credit card, signed up to a state-backed payments network, and [rolled out a service that] processes payments for movie and flight tickets as well as telephone utility bills.” Niren Shah, the lead in India for US-based Norwest Venture Partners, was quoted as saying, “It is likely that the next step for Amazon would be to distribute exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.”

Amazon’s services worldwide include e-commerce, a music streaming platform known as Amazon Music and the cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services. As of June 2020, the firm reported quarterly net income of USD 5.2 billion on net sales of USD 89 billion.

By, Nathan Kiplagat, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Business Standard news story
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/amazon-makes-india-centre-of-fintech-push-adds-gold-insurance-services-120090200331_1.html

Amazon homepage
https://www.amazon.com/

Amazon SafeGold webpage
https://www.amazon.in/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GL57MEXDY9RXVF3F

Amazon June 2020 financials
https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2020/q2/Q2-2020-Amazon-Earnings-Release.pdf

SafeGold homepage
https://www.safegold.com/

Previous MicroCapital story on demonetization in India
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-paper-wrap-up-understanding-the-impact-of-demonetization-on-bank-account-holders-from-low-income-households-published-by-ifmr-lead/

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