Amazon has bought the online payments company Emvantage in an attempt to gain an advantage in the Indian ecommerce market.
Emvantage has an online credit and debit card payment gateway, a mobile payment tool and a prepaid wallet.
Online payments are still relatively uncommon in India, with cash-on-delivery still being one of the most popular payment options.
Amazon hopes that acquiring Emvantage will give it an edge in the fiercely competitive Indian ecommerce market. Its main competitors in the market are Snapdeal and Flipkart.
The Indian ecommerce market is currently worth 11 billion US dollars and is growing rapidly, with online sales expected to reach 220 billion US dollars by 2025 according to estimates by Merrill Lynch.Â
