Airtel Payments Bank


Airtel Payments Bank is a public limited company with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. The company is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. It is the first company in India to receive a payments bank license from the Reserve Bank of India and it became the first live payments bank in the country. On April 11, 2016 the Reserve Bank of India issued the license under Section 22 of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to Airtel Payments Bank. Airtel Payments Bank is a joint venture between Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.. Kotak Mahindra Bank holds 19.9% stake in the Airtel Payments Bank.

History

In 2015, eleven companies received In-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to set up payments bank under the guidelines for Licensing of Payments Bank. Airtel was one of them, and it launched Airtel Payments Bank in September 2016. Airtel's first payments bank went live with its pilot project in Rajasthan in November 2016.

UPI Digital Payments

In September 2017, Airtel Payments Bank launched UPI enabled digital payments to facilitate secure digital payments. Customers need to link their bank accounts on BHIM before they can make UPI payments. For UPI-based payments and transfers, customers are not required to furnish their bank details to enable transactions.

Airtel Money

Airtel Money is a digital wallet by Airtel Payment Bank that allows users to make payments using "My Airtel app" or USSD.

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Airtel Payments Bank and Bharti Axa Life Insurance have started to provide government's insurance plan Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana in August 2018.
Atal Pension Yojana
In 2019, Airtel Payments Bank started offering Atal Pension Yojana through its platform.

Aadhaar-enabled payment service

Airtel Money allowed clients with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to transact by Aadhaar number or their virtual ID.

Legal challenges

The Unique Identification Authority of India suspended Bharti Airtel and Airtel Payment Bank's licence for eKYC of Aadhar on 16 December 2017, following complaints from customers that their accounts were being opened without their consent. Some even received their LPG subsidies in their Airtel Payment Bank accounts. However, on July 12, 2018, Airtel Payments Bank received requisite approvals from the Reserved Bank of India and Unique Identification Authority of India to resume on-boarding new customers using of Aadhaar-based e-KYC.

Investment

The bank's capital at its establishment was 3,000 crore. Airtel Payments Bank reported deposits of Rs 68.33 crore at the end of the financial year ended 31 March 2017, which was its first year of operation.
In July 2019, Airtel Payments Bank partnered with Bharti AXA General Insurance.

Awards