Airtel Payments Bank has extended its footprint to South India by rolling its pilot services in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, following its successful pilot roll out in Rajasthan.
Airtel Payment Bank which became the first entity in India to receive a payments bank license in April, offers basic banking services to customers by leveraging Airtel’s vast retail network and taking basic banking services to the doorstep of customers via neighborhood Airtel retailers.
The services can be accessed by Airtel customers on their mobile phones through the Airtel Money app, through USSD, or via a simple Voice Response Mechanism (IVR).
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Airtel Payments Bank is rolling the pilot services across 8,000 Airtel retail outlets in Andhra Pradesh and 7,000 outlets in Telangana, which also acts as banking points. Customers will now be able to open bank accounts at any of the designated Airtel retail outlets and enjoy a host of convenient banking services.
Airtel Payments Bank said it plans to develop a nationwide merchant ecosystem of over 3 million partners that will include small kirana stores, small shops and restaurants etc. These merchant partners will accept digital payments for goods and services from Airtel Payments Bank customers over mobile phones. Airtel Payments Bank will not charge any processing fee from merchants and this facility would be totally free for the customers as well as the merchants.
Shashi Arora, MD & CEO – Airtel Payments Bank
We are pleased to rollout our pilot services in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and look forward to serving customers and contributing the financial inclusion vision of the two states. We have received an extremely positive response from customers in Rajasthan and would like to replicate the same in AP and Telangana before we rollout our services nationally.
