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Bank/telco alliance provides no-frills accounts to India's unbanked

May 18, 2012

Axis Bank and Bharti Airtelthis week announced a partnership that will extend banking services to India's unbanked millions.

The agreement between the Indian companies will provide no-frills savings accounts at Axis Bank to customers on the airtel money platform. Airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank will allow banking transactions such as cash deposit, money transfer, withdrawal and remittances. The accounts will pay savings account interest.

To start, savings and remittance solutions will be provided in India's top four remittance corridors, with Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side and Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh on the receiving side. These services may later be extended to other remittance corridors in the country.

Other banking products and services such as micro recurring deposits, micro fixed deposits, small loans and micro-insurance products also will be added to the platform over time.

"We are delighted to partner with airtel for strengthening our financial inclusion initiative," said Shikha Sharma, managing director and CEO of Axis Bank, at a launch event in Mumbai. "Our alliance with airtel will help the bank to reach out to excluded segments of our population, both in rural and urban centers."

Sanjay Kapoor, CEO for India and South Asia at Bharti Airtel said, “[N]early 43 percent of our country’s population does not have bank accounts and continues to rely on cash for majority of transactions as well as payments. The all new ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ … [will] empower customers to send money, withdraw cash from the nearby designated airtel money outlets, keep money safe and even enjoy interest on savings through their mobile device. [W]e are confident that this association will play a transformational role in furthering economic empowerment and fast-tracking India’s financial inclusion agenda.”

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