According to a report by Techcrunch, Amazon has been contemplating this shift for about a year, believing that a dedicated app could help Amazon Pay gain wider recognition and increase user engagement in India's rapidly growing digital payments market.Amazon Pay offers a broad range of financial services in India, such as money transfers, bill payments, insurance purchases, travel bookings, and investments in mutual funds and digital gold. However, these services are only accessible through Amazon's e-commerce app, limiting their visibility and potentially their adoption among users. A standalone app could provide a more focused user experience, enabling Amazon to compete more effectively with other digital payment platforms in India, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm.The potential app would align Amazon Pay with broader industry trends, especially following Flipkart's recent move to consolidate its fintech offerings into a single vertical after separating from PhonePe two years ago. Amazon Pay processed around 72.4 million transactions in July 2023, representing about 0.5% of all transactions on India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. While this figure is modest compared to other players in the market, the introduction of a standalone app could boost Amazon Pay's market share.Amazon has reportedly reached out to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for approval to move forward with this plan. However, the discussions are still ongoing, and the plan could change or be abandoned altogether. This strategic consideration comes as Amazon continues to heavily invest in its Indian operations, including a recent infusion of Rs 600 crore (approximately $72 million) into Amazon Pay India, bringing its total investment in the payments arm to Rs 1,950 crore.