Airtel Payments Bank Becomes Full-Fledged Commercial Bank: 11 Crore Users, 80 Lakh Merchants

Airtel Payments Bank, among the fastest-growing banks with more than 115 million users in India and over 8 million merchants, informed on Jan 4 that it has been approved under the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act.

This has given the bank the status to be categorized as a scheduled commercial bank by the central regulator RBI.

Airtel Payments Bank Becomes a Scheduled Commercial Bank

On Tuesday, the banking arm of Bharti Airtel, Airtel Payments Bank was included under the ‘Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934’, thereby becoming a Scheduled Commercial Bank.

Once given this status, the bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals and primary auctions. It can also undertake both central and state government business, apart from only participating in government-operated welfare schemes.

“In a boost to its fast growing digital banking footprint, Airtel Payments Bank has been categorised as Scheduled Bank by the Reserve Bank of India,” stated the bank, cites a PTI report.

More About  Airtel Payments Bank 

Airtel Payments Bank is among the fastest growing digital banks in India, as mentioned above. It offers a suite for digital solutions through the Airtel Thanks app and a retail network of over 500,000 neighbourhood banking points, to its over 115 mill users and 8 mill merchants.

The bank turned profitable in the quarter ended September 2021, and currently, the digital bank serves every 1 in 6 villages in India, and a significant number of new accounts were added in FY21.

Its digital banking solutions allow users to open a bank account in five minutes using video KYC, make secure payments using Safe Pay and get benefits with the ‘Rewards123’ programme, stated a CNBC report.

Airtel Payments Bank is able to offer its solutions to both the urban digital and the rural underbanked customer.