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After the successful pilot runs, Airtel Payments Bank is LIVE across the country. It commences its national operations in all 29 states in India. Mr. Arun Jaitley, Honorable Union Minster of Finance and Corporate Affairs, formally launched the service.

The company has committed an initial investment of Rs. 3,000 crores ($441 million) to build its new pan-India Airtel Payments Bank. The payment bank is also looking at integration with unique payments interface (UPI) to enable merchants to do transactions with ease, even as MD & CEO Shashi Arora aims to convert all of Airtel’s subscribers into payment bank customers.

Besides Mr. Mittal, Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman & MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel; and Shashi Arora, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank were present for the launch.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises said, “With Airtel Payments Bank, we are starting another important chapter in our journey, with the potential to truly transform lives and contribute to financial inclusion in the country. Just like mobile telephony leapfrogged traditional telecom networks to take affordable telecom services deep into the country, Airtel Payments Bank aims to take digital banking services to the unbanked over their mobile phones in a quick and efficient manner. Millions of Indians in rural areas will get their first formal banking experience with Airtel Payments Bank.”

From now, the Airtel payments bank will provide banking services from nearly 250,000 Airtel retail stores in India will also function as banking points. With the account customers can open savings accounts, make deposits and withdraw cash from these banking points. Airtel is not charging any processing fee on customers and merchants partners for digital transactions to encourage digital transactions.

There is also an app for the transactions. This can be accessed via MyAirtel app, Airtel’s smartphone app. Besides, customers can also avail an online card and this can be used across all e-merchants accepting MasterCard to make payments. Airtel will soon collaborate with other retail outlets like grocery shops, pharmacies, restaurants, etc. so that they accept digital payments from Airtel Payments Bank.

Also, a merchant app is available to enable the merchants to become partners to Airtel Payment Banks. To open an Airtel payments bank customers need Aadhar number to validate the account. Airtel offers an interest rate of 7.25% per annum for the amount deposited in the savings account.

A free accidental insurance of one lakh is another benefit of Airtel Bank. Money can be transferred to any bank accounts in India. Private-sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank owns a minority stake in Airtel Payments Bank.