Amazon and the Bank of India are helping small businesses

The State Bank of India (SBI) and Amazon.in have agreed to work together and focus efforts on improving payments and e-commerce solutions for small businesses across the country.

The partnership will enable the two groups to create new payment solutions to help underserved small businesses connect with customers on a digital level.

‘‘As the premier bank of the country, we are always exploring ways to fulfill the aspirations of our millions of customers. Our partnership with e-commerce platforms like Amazon would give a fillip to e-commerce in India and brings lots of value to our retail and SME customers,’’ said SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya.

The collaboration is taking place within a country that has potential to grow its e-commerce market even further. In 2013, Asia-Pacific gained $567.3bn through B2C e-commerce channels, emerging as the strongest region for growth in that year.

‘‘E-commerce as an industry is at inflection point and SBI stands with all the stake holders – the retail customers, the SME clientele, the large logistics companies, others – in facilitating this defining change,’’ continued Bhattacharya.

There have been many developments concerning India and its e-commerce market during the past few months. In April, Payment Eye reported that the Reserve Bank of India is open to banks and e-commerce companies forming joint ventures, and allowing ecommerce firms to act as banking correspondents.

SBI shares Amazon’s philosophy of building customer trust and investing for the long term. We have a great opportunity to work together to transform how India shops and sell,’’ commented Amit Agarwal, vice president and country manager of Amazon India.

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