Airtel will be launching its Payments Bank service tomorrow. The company says that it is a fully digital and paperless bank. Anyone will be able to open an account with the service using Aadhaar-based e-KYC. This requires no documents, and only the Aadhaar number. Once a customer opens an account, their phone number will become their bank account number as well.
The service will allow users to transfer money to any bank account in India, and transfers from Airtel to Airtel numbers within the service will be free. Users will also get an interest rate of 7.25 percent p.a on deposits in savings accounts. Further, users will get personal accidental insurance of Rs. 1,00,000 with every savings account. Airtel’s retail outlets will allow deposit and withdrawal facilities. The company also notes that it will be charging a cash withdrawal fee of approximately 0.65 percent per transaction. Airtel says that this is to discourage cash withdrawals and encourage customers to prefer digital payments.
Airtel Payments Bank has already rolled out a pilot service in certain states like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The company aims to develop a nationwide merchant ecosystem of over 3 million partners, including small shops, restaurants, and more. Besides Airtel, Paytm has also received approval to open its Payments Bank.