All you need to know about India’s first Payments Bank
Post Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s life-altering announcement of demonetization, Paytm became the life saver for many. But now it seems that Bharti Airtel is out to beat the online wallet. On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel surprised the entire nation by launching India’s first Payments Bank.
Currently, a pilot project has been setup for testing the Airtel Payment Bank’s services in Rajasthan.
Here is all you need to know
- Airtel plans to cover over 100,000 merchant’s network in Rajasthan by the end of the year and thereby, expanding the services to the entire nation. If the Payment Bank works as planned by Bharti Airtel Limited, it is going to boost the digital payments ecosystem to a great extent.
- Airtel Payments Bank’s MD & CEO, Shashi Arora said,“With this pilot, we have taken a big step towards the launch of our banking services and will be testing our operational readiness for full-scale launch across India. We would also like to use feedback from our customers to further improve our processes and look forward to serving them.”
- Apparently, Airtel outlets all over Rajasthan have been converted into new Airtel’s banking outlets to serve the people better.
- The customers could open a bank account by visiting the outlet, transfer money and perform all the other banking operations which Airtel Banks currently providing using their bank accounts.
- The interesting news is that both the Airtel and Non-Airtel customers will be able to open a Bank account with Airtel Payment Bank with the help of just their Aadhar Card. For the domestic savings account, a genuine interest of 7.25% will be provided.
- Moreover, for the customers’ convenience, a free accidental insurance policy worth Rs one lakh is provided to each new account holder.
Airtel Payment Bank is a completely digital and paperless platform, which means no ATMs would be there for cash withdrawal purpose. For any deposit or withdrawal, the customer has to visit any Airtel Bank outlet. Also, the payments to any other bank account could be made, given that Airtel to Airtel money transfer would be free.
Paytm which acquired the license for opening the Payments Bank in India last year, much prior to Airtel and Kotak Mahindra, once claimed to be the first one to open the Payment Bank in the country. But seems like Airtel has beaten it in the challenge. Let’s see what steps Paytm will take to overcome this defeat.
