State Bank of India Partners Amazon on Payments, SMEs

The State Bank of India (SBI) and Amazon.in on Wednesday signed a pact to identify areas of cooperation to build a digital India which meets the aspirations of the next generation of customers and small businesses.

SBI and Amazon will develop trusted and frictionless payments and commerce solutions for customers and small businesses, capitalizing on the exponential growth in internet penetration to drive the adoption of e-commerce and m-commerce in India, a statement said.

"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.

She said the bank is working on ways to enrich customers' payment experience and opening up the windows of e-commerce to its SME customers.

"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," she added.

"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 sells," said Amazon India vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal.