Flipkart has scooped up payments services start-up FX Mart Pvt. Ltd. The homegrown e-tailer has made the acquisition to integrate payment service in its own platform along with Myntra’s within next three months.
As per the documents available with Registrar of Companies (RoC), Flipkart has paid around Rs. 45.4 crore to acquire a majority stake in the FX Mart. Two senior executives of Flipkart have joined the board of FX Mart, as a result of the acquisition. FX Mart deals in Electronic Payments, Remittance ,Foreign Exchange and Travel related businesses. It had applied for a payment bank license in February this year following which it coveted the prepaid licence issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Flipkart is also planning to offer the payment service on third-party sites and apps later. Last week Ola opened up its mobile wallet Ola Money to third party merchants like OYO Rooms, Lenskart and Saavn among others. Snapdeal is working on its own payment service which it plans to launch by the end of this year. Flipkart had applied for license through its payment gateway business Payzippy in July 2013, however it was unsuccessful to secure a license until the e-commerce major shut Payzippy in November last year. Currently, there are a number of mobile wallets in India like Paytm, MobiKwik and Oxygen.