Amazon also dropped the price of iPhone 7 (32GB) to Rs 39,499 on Monday for its Prime customers, Rs 500 less than Flipkart's sale price.
Boosting sales for third-party merchants is lucrative for Amazon, which takes a cut of transactions on its site. It also has made a business out of handling more leg work for sellers, too. They pay Amazon to fulfill their orders and boost their placement in search results, without which sellers might struggle to grab shoppers' attention.
Amazon said more than 20,000 small businesses have received a loan from Amazon and more than half of those have taken a second loan from the company. Loans range from $1,000 to $750,000. Sellers have said interest rates are between 6% and 14%.
Rivals, including eBay and Wal-Mart Stores, now are doubling down on their marketplace businesses, but loans may help keep sellers close to Amazon's orbit. "We do tell them it's to help them grow on the Amazon Marketplace," Nahar said.
The loan program is invitation-only. Amazon has issued loans to sellers in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.