Amazon Pay on Monday launched person-to-person (P2P) payments for Android users, who can now make instant bank-to-bank transfers using the UPI platform on the Amazon app. It will also let users make payments from their bank account to local stores or to Amazon’s delivery agents via scanning UPI QR codes. It can be used to settle bills with friends, lend or return money to family, pay rent, and for services like house-help, newspaper bills and more, the company said. The new feature will let Amazon users send or receive P2P payments by simply selecting a contact on their phone. The app will automatically detect if the contact is a registered Amazon Pay UPI customer and enable instant bank-to-bank transfers. If the contact is not registered for Amazon Pay UPI, the user will have the option to pay using any another BHIM UPI ID or the contact’s bank account. All P2P payments are secured through multi-factor authentication involving the user’s phone, SIM details, and UPI PIN, Amazon said. The app will also display recent transactions to make it easier for customers to make repeat payments. Google Pay leads in P2P payments Amazon has had a late start on UPI and P2P payments in India, party due to RBI’s concerns regarding the storage of user data in India. Its rivals - Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe - already support P2P, with Google Pay in the lead in terms of the amount transacted, per the Times of India. In February, the Amazon quietly…
