Amazon and Flipkart are moving deeper into financial services in India with new lending plans that place them in direct competition with traditional banks. Amazon is preparing to begin offering loans to small businesses, while Flipkart is working on buy now pay later products for consumers.
Amazon recently acquired Bengaluru based non bank lender Axio. Axio currently focuses on buy now pay later services and personal loans. With Amazon’s backing, Axio will return to providing credit to small businesses and plans to introduce cash management solutions.
Mahendra Nerurkar, vice president for payments for emerging markets at Amazon, said the company sees strong potential for growth in India’s credit market. He said Amazon will be “designing tailored lending propositions” for merchants and small businesses to improve cash flow management and unlock capital. The specific details of Amazon’s lending plans have not been reported before.
Meanwhile, Walmart owned Flipkart registered its non bank lending unit, Flipkart Finance, earlier this year. The unit is now waiting for the Reserve Bank of India’s approval to begin its operations. Company filings show that Flipkart plans to offer two types of pay later products. These include no cost monthly instalment loans for online shoppers for periods between three and twenty four months. The other offering will be loans for consumer durables with interest rates between eighteen percent and twenty six percent a year. Traditional lenders usually offer similar loans at interest rates between twelve percent and twenty two percent.
A person familiar with the matter said Flipkart expects to launch these financial products next year. The person requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly. Both Flipkart and the Reserve Bank of India have not responded to requests for comment.
India’s consumer loan market has expanded significantly in recent years. It grew from about eighty billion dollars in March 2020 to around two hundred twelve billion dollars in March 2025, according to credit bureau data. However, recent reports indicate a slight slowdown. Consumer loans include unsecured personal loans, credit cards and loans for consumer durables.
Both Amazon and Flipkart operate apps that rank among the most used platforms for making payments through India’s Unified Payments Interface. Their lending ambitions gained momentum earlier this year when the Reserve Bank of India allowed them to offer loans directly through their fully owned units. This move marked an important step for foreign backed technology companies entering India’s financial services sector.
Rohan Lakhiyar, partner at a consultancy’s financial services risk division, said there is significant potential for the companies to succeed because they hold both supply side and demand side customer data. He added that execution will be critical as they expand beyond retail.
Amazon has also partnered with several local lenders to offer fixed deposit savings products with minimum deposits of one thousand rupees to customers through its Amazon Pay platform, Nerurkar said.
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