ICICI Bank to Offer Instant Overdraft (OD) to Sellers Registered on Amazon.in

• Enables sellers on amazon.in to avail OD of upto Rs 25 lakh instantly and digitally
• First bank to automate scorecard-based mechanism that allows instant approval to sellers
• Customers of ICICI Bank can use the OD immediately

ICICI Bank today announced that it has partnered with Amazon India to offer overdraft (OD) facility upto Rs 25 lakh to individual sellers and small businesses registered on the e-commerce company’s online marketplace, www.amazon.in, instantaneously and digitally. Driven by API integration, the partnership enables sellers to avail an OD from the Bank in a process--from application to sanction to disbursement-- that is entirely digital. Even customers of other banks can avail the OD facility from ICICI Bank, if they are registered as sellers with amazon.in.

Leveraging advanced data analytics, ICICI Bank has developed this new facility that functions on the back of an industry-first scorecard to instantly evaluate credit worthiness of sellers based on their financial profile including Credit Bureau scores.

The new credit assessment method offers significant convenience to the sellers as it does away with the paper-intensive bank statements or income tax returns for assessing credit worthiness. Further, it empowers small businesses and individual sellers who are ‘new-to-credit’ and ‘existing MSME borrowers’ to unlock the value of their digital transactions and get access to instant credit.

Sellers having current account with ICICI Bank can immediately start using the OD to meet their working capital requirements. Customers of other banks can avail the OD by simply opening a current account with the Bank digitally.

Speaking on the initiative, Pankaj Gadgil, Head- Self Employed Segment, SME & Merchant Ecosystem, ICICI Bank said, “ICICI Bank has always believed that access to timely credit and ease of doing business are key parameters for the growth of the MSME businesses. In line with this, we are pleased to launch the OD facility for sellers registered on amazon.in instantly and digitally. The partnership stands to enable sellers to avail instant overdraft up to Rs. 25 lakh in a completely digital manner. They can start using the OD amount immediately to meet their working capital requirements. We have specially curated a new way of assessing credit worthiness of the sellers on the basis of their Credit Bureau score as well as their transaction history on amazon.in. This new and improved process will help the sellers, who may otherwise not get access to adequate credit when assessed in the traditional way of using only balance sheets, bank statements and tax returns. We believe that this new proposition resonates our effort in developing path breaking innovations for MSME customers and will empower them with new avenues of business expansion."

Vikas Bansal, Director – Amazon Pay India said, “We are prioritizing our efforts to help sellers on amazon.in bounce back from the disruption owing to COVID-19. Our mission is to enable easy and trusted access to credit for sellers with transparent policies and at low costs. Our partnership with ICICI Bank will provide sellers across India with an OD facility instantly and digitally at affordable rates to meet all their current and future requirements.”

Here are the benefits of ‘InstaOD’ for amazon.in sellers:

• Online loan application: Sellers registered on amazon.in can apply for the OD instantly online through amazon.in in a completely digital and paperless manner
• Easy process: The Bank evaluates sellers instantly on the basis of their Credit Bureau score and their transaction history on amazon.in, making the loan approval process easy and quick. This is a marked improvement over the typical process which demands sellers to go through the tedious paper-intensive process of submitting income tax returns, bank statements and GST returns
• Instant sanction and disbursal: The approved OD amount is instantly sanctioned and disbursed into the seller’s current account
• Pay for what you use: Sellers only need to pay interest on the amount of OD utilised by them
• Auto-renewal facility: The OD is renewable on an annual basis, depending on the repayment track records of the seller

Below are quick steps for the sellers to avail the ‘InstaOD’:

• View offer: Eligible sellers can find the ICICI Bank offer on their account of Amazon Seller Central, online portal for sellers registered on amazon.in
• Click on banner: The seller is redirected to ICICI Bank’s ‘InstaOD’ platform upon clicking on the banner on Seller Central
• Fill details: The seller needs to login and fill in the digital application form
• Confirm to sanction amount: Upon confirmation of the amount from the seller, the OD is instantly sanctioned. If the seller already has a current account with ICICI Bank, then the seller can immediately start using the OD
• Account opening for new-to-bank seller: Sellers new to ICICI Bank, will be redirected for instant opening of current account and KYC validation.

Sellers registered on amazon.in can avail the ‘InstaOD’ facility through Amazon Seller Central or by clicking on the following link: https://sellercentral.amazon.in/lending/ph/offers

Organisations and Partners can get in touch with the Bank for API integrations through https://www.icicibank.com/business-banking/finance/insta-overdraft.page

Amazon Invests over Rs 2500 Cr into India's Amazon Seller Services, Amazon Data Services Units

Amazon has infused over Rs 2,500 crore into two of its Indian businesses, Amazon Seller Services and Amazon Data Services India, according to regulatory filings.

The investment comes just days after its founder and the world's richest man Jeff Bezos announced USD 1 billion investment in digitising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

An e-mail sent to the company did not elicit a response.

As per regulatory documents sourced from business intelligence platform paper.vc, the board of Amazon Seller Services has allotted shares worth about Rs 2,208 crore to Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com Inc. The resolution to this effect was approved on January 24.

A separate filing by Amazon Data Services India said shares worth Rs 355 crore have been allotted to A100 ROW Inc and Amazon.com Inc. This resolution was approved on January 31.

Amazon had recently pumped in over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India, signalling opportunity that the US giant sees in the country. Amazon Pay India had received Rs 1,355 crore, while Amazon Wholesale (India) allotted shares worth about Rs 360 crore.

Amazon CEO Bezos who was in India last month had promised USD 1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore) investment in India to help bring small and medium businesses online and committed to exporting USD 10 billion worth of India-made goods by 2025. The ambitious investment announcement had however courted controversy after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal termed the fund infusion "not a favour". Goyal had later clarified that his statement had been taken out of context.

India's antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India has ordered an investigation into alleged violations of competition laws by Amazon and its rival Walmart-owned Flipkart.

Amazon and rival Flipkart have been pumping millions of dollars into across various operations like marketplace, infrastructure and supply chain management as well as marketing and promotion as they look to strengthen their position in the fledgling Indian e-commerce market. PTI SR MBI

Amazon Infuses Rs 1,620 crore In Its India-based Seller Operations Arm

According to recent filings received with the Registrar of Companies, American global giant Amazon has decided to infuse $250.3 million (Rs 1,620 crore) in its India-based seller operations Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd.

The filings revealed that the ecommerce biggie was able to raise the capital from its Mauritius-based group entity Amazon.com.incs Limited and Singapore-based group entity Amazon Corporate Holdings. The filing also highlighted that the investment was raised on September 15 this year by allocating 162 crore equity shares with the face value of Rs 10 apiece.

The latest investment infusion came just three months after Amazon India’s seller services raised $260 million (Rs 1,680 crore) in July, 2017.

The funding has come in Amazon’s way when it is in the midst of carrying out the third leg of its festive season sales.

In June, it was revealed that the US e-commerce biggie Amazon now has more sellers on its Indian e-commerce site than the country’s homegrown e-commerce giant, Flipkart. According to latest figures released by Amazon, it has doubled the number of merchants on its e-commerce platform from one lakh to two lakhs in less than a years period.

The global e-commerce major took a total of four years to reach the two lakhs merchants milestone in India.

In the past four years that Amazon has been India, it has made it quite clear that the Indian subcontinent is its most important market outside the US. This is mainly due to the fact that it lost out on a chance to make a mark in China courtesy its homegrown e-commerce giant Alibaba driving it out of its country. This is why the online retail giant turned to Asia-Pacific’s fastest-growing e-commerce market, India.

If one would think rationally, one would observe that even though Flipkart is currently number one in Indian e-commerce market, it is Amazon which has a broader ecosystem in the country when it comes to the various ways people interact with it. For instance, Flipkart has nothing to offer to compete with Amazon’s Prime Video service. This is not to say that Flipkart has never tried. The homegrown giant did launch a music download service with its digital store Flyte a few years ago but ended up shutting it down within a year of its operations.

Amazon, which now boosts of having more sellers on its Indian e-commerce site than the country’s homegrown e-commerce giant, had recently announced that it would continue its investment streak in the Indian subcontinent in expanding infrastructure and bringing in innovative solutions to better consumer and seller experience as it aims to overthrow Indian e-commerce leader Flipkart from its throne and become the number one e-commerce website in the South Asian country. The giant has committed a whopping US $5 billion in investments in the Indian subcontinent.

This development was first reported in VCCircle.

Amazon Infuses Rs 1,620 crore In Its India-based Seller Operations Arm

According to recent filings received with the Registrar of Companies, American global giant Amazon has decided to infuse $250.3 million (Rs 1,620 crore) in its India-based seller operations Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd.

The filings revealed that the ecommerce biggie was able to raise the capital from its Mauritius-based group entity Amazon.com.incs Limited and Singapore-based group entity Amazon Corporate Holdings. The filing also highlighted that the investment was raised on September 15 this year by allocating 162 crore equity shares with the face value of Rs 10 apiece.

The latest investment infusion came just three months after Amazon India’s seller services raised $260 million (Rs 1,680 crore) in July, 2017.

The funding has come in Amazon’s way when it is in the midst of carrying out the third leg of its festive season sales.

In June, it was revealed that the US e-commerce biggie Amazon now has more sellers on its Indian e-commerce site than the country’s homegrown e-commerce giant, Flipkart. According to latest figures released by Amazon, it has doubled the number of merchants on its e-commerce platform from one lakh to two lakhs in less than a years period.

The global e-commerce major took a total of four years to reach the two lakhs merchants milestone in India.

In the past four years that Amazon has been India, it has made it quite clear that the Indian subcontinent is its most important market outside the US. This is mainly due to the fact that it lost out on a chance to make a mark in China courtesy its homegrown e-commerce giant Alibaba driving it out of its country. This is why the online retail giant turned to Asia-Pacific’s fastest-growing e-commerce market, India.

If one would think rationally, one would observe that even though Flipkart is currently number one in Indian e-commerce market, it is Amazon which has a broader ecosystem in the country when it comes to the various ways people interact with it. For instance, Flipkart has nothing to offer to compete with Amazon’s Prime Video service. This is not to say that Flipkart has never tried. The homegrown giant did launch a music download service with its digital store Flyte a few years ago but ended up shutting it down within a year of its operations.

Amazon, which now boosts of having more sellers on its Indian e-commerce site than the country’s homegrown e-commerce giant, had recently announced that it would continue its investment streak in the Indian subcontinent in expanding infrastructure and bringing in innovative solutions to better consumer and seller experience as it aims to overthrow Indian e-commerce leader Flipkart from its throne and become the number one e-commerce website in the South Asian country. The giant has committed a whopping US $5 billion in investments in the Indian subcontinent.

This development was first reported in VCCircle.

Amazon To Offer Micro-Loans To Its Sellers; Ties Up With Bank of Baroda

Global ecommerce biggie Amazon is trying hard to become the numero uno player in the Indian ecommerce market by beating its arch rival Flipkart. Understanding that the best way to achieve this faster is by maintaining a wide variety of sellers on its platform, the American giant has decided to offer micro loans to its sellers. The firm has even tied with state-run lender Bank of Baroda for the same.

According to a report in the Economic Times (ET), the programme was piloted by Amazon in July this year in association with the bank. Under the programme, Amazon will be offering the loans to the marketplace sellers on invite-only basis. Amazon sellers will be receiving pre-approved indicative offers from the bank for the loan amount that they are eligible. The sellers will be able to make use of their sale disbursements on Amazon's platform to directly repay the loans that they have taken.

"We clearly understand the specific needs of SMEs for e-commerce business and are proud to partner with Amazon India to provide comprehensive banking solutions to their over 2 lakh seller base," said Bank of Baroda's managing director and CEO, P S Jayakumar.

The programme will see Bank of Baroda extending loans in the range of Rs one lakh to Rs 25 lakh at an annual interest rates between 18 and 30 per cent. The bank is hoping to enrol 15 to 20 per cent of Amazon's sellers in this programme by next 12 months.

Commenting on the new initiative, Amazon India director and general manager (seller services) Gopal Pillai said, "Through our engagement with sellers, we realised that the lack of financial resources can hinder the growth of small businesses as they scale up which can impact expansion, especially ahead of the festive sales."

Amazon seems to have taken a great liking for the Indian market. After deciding to double its office space in India by next year and setting up its largest standalone Fashion Imaging Studio called BLINK in India's Gurgaon recently, the global ecommerce giant is reportedly also planning on setting up Lab126, its secretive consumer devices development arm in the country's financial capital, Mumbai.

Amazon To Offer Micro-Loans To Its Sellers; Ties Up With Bank of Baroda

Global ecommerce biggie Amazon is trying hard to become the numero uno player in the Indian ecommerce market by beating its arch rival Flipkart. Understanding that the best way to achieve this faster is by maintaining a wide variety of sellers on its platform, the American giant has decided to offer micro loans to its sellers. The firm has even tied with state-run lender Bank of Baroda for the same.

According to a report in the Economic Times (ET), the programme was piloted by Amazon in July this year in association with the bank. Under the programme, Amazon will be offering the loans to the marketplace sellers on invite-only basis. Amazon sellers will be receiving pre-approved indicative offers from the bank for the loan amount that they are eligible. The sellers will be able to make use of their sale disbursements on Amazon's platform to directly repay the loans that they have taken.

"We clearly understand the specific needs of SMEs for e-commerce business and are proud to partner with Amazon India to provide comprehensive banking solutions to their over 2 lakh seller base," said Bank of Baroda's managing director and CEO, P S Jayakumar.

The programme will see Bank of Baroda extending loans in the range of Rs one lakh to Rs 25 lakh at an annual interest rates between 18 and 30 per cent. The bank is hoping to enrol 15 to 20 per cent of Amazon's sellers in this programme by next 12 months.

Commenting on the new initiative, Amazon India director and general manager (seller services) Gopal Pillai said, "Through our engagement with sellers, we realised that the lack of financial resources can hinder the growth of small businesses as they scale up which can impact expansion, especially ahead of the festive sales."

Amazon seems to have taken a great liking for the Indian market. After deciding to double its office space in India by next year and setting up its largest standalone Fashion Imaging Studio called BLINK in India's Gurgaon recently, the global ecommerce giant is reportedly also planning on setting up Lab126, its secretive consumer devices development arm in the country's financial capital, Mumbai.