Amazon India Sees First SMB Lender Integrated Into Platform

Amazon India is integrating its first small business lender via API into the Amazon Lending marketplace, reports in News Barons said on Wednesday (April 24).

India’s FlexiLoans has expanded its existing partnership with Amazon.in through the integration of its lending platform into the Amazon Lending marketplace for India businesses. The solution enables companies that obtain FlexiLoans financing via Amazon to manage loans directly from the Amazon seller dashboard.

The company said it hopes the deepened integration with Amazon will broaden its reach to more than 100,000 business borrowers this year.

“[The] Indian FinTech ecosystem needs such close integrations to deliver real value toward SME financial inclusion with great user experience,” said FlexiLoans Co-Founder Deepak Jain in a statement, adding that the influx of consumer shoppers on the Amazon platform has propelled the rise of B2B eCommerce on Amazon.

“Our curated offers for Amazon.in sellers make it very convenient for sellers to manage their working capital and take advantage of India festive season spikes,” Jain noted.

According to reports, India saw $22 billion in total eCommerce sales last year, and saw the world’s highest CAGR eCommerce sales growth between 2013 and 2017 at 53 percent.

Amazon’s B2B eCommerce operations in India have also seen significant growth, posting a $413,700 profit in 2017. The company also purchased $1.14 billion worth of goods via Amazon Wholesale India that year.

More recently, however, some sellers on the Amazon platform have raised concerns over how the eCommerce conglomerates treats them. The All India Online Vendors Association, a lobby group, issued a complaint against Amazon last year on behalf of its more than 3,500 seller members. The filing with the Competition Commission of India argues that Amazon favors merchants it partially owns, charging them lower rates.

“Amazon has an equal relationship with all the sellers on our marketplace,” a spokesperson for Amazon India said in October in response to the allegations.