Airtel utilizes its telecom might to push its payments bank, offers free talktime to customers for every rupee deposited

Airtel became the first payments bank to go live in India last week when it rolled out pilot services in Rajasthan. And it looks like the top telecom player in the country has clubbed its telecom might with its new venture by offering customers one minute of talk time on their Airtel mobile for every Rupee deposited in their savings account with Airtel Payments Bank. Shashi Arora, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank said, “We are leveraging Airtel’s telecom ecosystem to bring banking services to the doorsteps of every Indian. We are confident that this additional benefit along with the industry-best interest rate on deposits will encourage customers to open accounts with us and give a big boost to customer acquisition.”

So with this new benefit, every Airtel customers who opens an account with Airtel Payments bank and deposit money will get the same amount of minutes of free talk time on their Airtel mobile number. The talk time can be used for calling all over India however only limited to Airtel to Airtel calls and this benefit is applicable on first time deposits only. Considering Airtel’s payments bank is open to all, the non-Airtel customers will not be able to avail the benefit.

Govt’s demonetization move has been a boon for the digital payments ecosystem as it has reduced dependence on cash and the move has only worked for Airtel as the company was able to open 10,000 accounts in the first two days itself. This is only a pilot project as of now but Airtel is looking to do a full scale pan-India launch starting with states like AP, UP, Karnataka, Bihar and Jharkhand.

With its pilot project, Airtel is looking to enroll over one lakh merchants in Rajasthan by the year-end, who will not be charged anything for accepting digital payments from Airtel Payments Bank customers. So far Airtel Payments Bank has banking points at 10,000 Airtel retail outlets in Rajasthan, it offers customers interest rate of 7.25 % p.a. on deposits in savings accounts and Personal Accidental Insurance of Rs. 1 Lac with every Savings Account.

Image Credit