At an event in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley launched Airtel Payments Bank which commenced operations with services now LIVE in all 29 States of India. This bank will take digital banking services to the doorstep of every Indian, particularly in unbanked rural areas, and contribute to the Government’s vision of Digital India and Financial Inclusion. Airtel Payments Bank commits an initial investment of Rs 3000 crores to develop a pan India banking network and digital payments ecosystem.
Airtel Payments Bank, a fully digital and paperless bank, aims to take basic banking services to the doorstep of every Indian by leveraging Airtel’s vast retail network. Starting today, over 250,000 neighbourhood Airtel retail stores across the country will also function as banking points, and customers will be able to open savings accounts, deposit and withdraw cash across any of these banking points.
The Bank will not charge any processing fee from its customers and merchants partners for digital transactions, thereby encouraging them to adopt cashless payments.
The Bank also rolled out its app for Android and iOS. The app can be accessed through MyAirtel app. Customers simply need to install MyAirtel app on their smartphone for a seamless access to Airtel Payments Bank services. In addition, customers would also get access to a MasterCard powered online card, which can be used to make payments across all online merchants accepting MasterCard.
The Bank will develop a nationwide merchant ecosystem of over five million partners including small kirana stores, grocers, pharmacies, restaurants, etc. These merchant partners will accept digital payments from Airtel Payments Bank customers over mobile phones. Airtel Payments Bank has launched a Merchant App for digital onboarding of partners. Anyone looking to become a merchant partner can download this app from Google Playstore for free and start accepting digital payments instantaneously.
Salient Features of Airtel Payments Bank:
- Quick and paperless account opening using Aadhaar based e-KYC. This requires no documents at all, only the customer’s Aadhaar number is needed
- The customer’s mobile number will be his/her bank account number
- Interest rate of 7.25 % p.a. on deposits in savings accounts
- One minute of Airtel mobile talktime for every Rupee deposited at the time of opening a savings account
- Money transfer to any bank account in India (Free money transfer from Airtel-to-Airtel numbers within Airtel Payments Bank)
- Free Personal Accidental Insurance of Rs. 1 Lac with every Savings Account
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