INDIA EXTENDS $4.5 BILLION IN FINANCE TO BANGLADESH
customers. We continue to explore ways to do this, in partnership with banks, processors, fin-tech companies and ecosystem partners. We remain committed to our India business with a long-term perspective to make digital payments a habit for Indian customers and to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the entire ecosystem.”
In an interview earlier this year, Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal had indicated that the company was gearing up to expand the scope of its digital payments business in India, but did not specify what shape the payments service would take in the coming months.
In December last year, Amazon had launched its Pay Balance service in order to boost cashless transactions. While Pay Balance works in a similar manner to other mobile wallet services, it was restricted to transactions on Amazon.
India on Wednesday signed an agreement with Bangladesh extending a $4.5 billion credit line for several infrastructure projects, as New Delhi tries to expand its influence over its smaller neighbour amid rising Chinese competition.
The loan, the biggest credit line provided by India to any country, was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April and takes India’s total financial support for Dhaka to more than $8 billion over the past six years.
China is Bangladesh’s biggest trade partner followed by India and last year pledged around $24 billion in loans for the South Asian nation, which is one of the world’s poorest.
Most of the equipment for the Indian-funded projects will have to be bought from India, Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told reporters after the agreement was signed in presence of his Indian counterpart, Arun Jaitley in Dhaka. The projects are targeted for the power, rail, shipping, ports, health and education sectors.
The loan, for a total of 17 projects, would be repaid over 20 years at an interest rate of 1 percent.
India has long considered Bangladesh as part of its area of influence, and under Prime Minister Modi has boosted economic links with it as well as with other neighbours including Nepal and Sri Lanka.
“A strong, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in India’s interest,” Jaitley told reporters. “We are committed to working with Bangladesh to deepen our bilateral ties.”
DHAKA: We are committed to working with Bangladesh to deepen our bilateral ties
In July, Amazon India, which had applied for what is called a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) licence nearly a year ago, received the licence from the RBI.
Amazon’s latest moves to gain a slice of the digital payments pie in India comes at a time when investor interest in the sector is at an all-time high. Given India’s status as the world’s last remaining unconquered Internet economy, marquee investors led by the likes of SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd have all bet billions of dollars on the digital payments space in India and backed startups such as Paytm.
Flipkart is also spending millions of dollars expanding its own payments business PhonePe. In September last year, PhonePe launched an app based on the Unified Payments Interface platform, a key bet for Flipkart given how payments are still largely an unsolved problem in both online and offline commerce.