Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced that it has signed an agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) for payments bank. RIL promoted RJIL holds pan-India broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum and has invested Rs 70,000 crore. The venture is expected to be dovetailed with Reliance's ambitious plans to launch a pan-India broadband service network.
The service will cover all states, around 5,000 towns and cities, accounting for over 90 percent of urban India and over 215,000 villages out of some 645,000 villages. The SBI could eventually hold up to 30% in the venture, the company said in a statement. “The payments bank will leverage SBI’s nationwide distribution network and risk management capabilities along with the substantial investments made by RIL in its retail and telecom businesses.”
The venture is expected to be dovetailed with Reliance's ambitious plans to launch a pan-India broadband service network, initially covering all the states and some 5,000 cities and towns, accounting for over 90 percent of urban India and over 215,000 out of some 645,000 villages.
Also read: ABNL partners with Idea Cellular to venture into Payments Bank
The partnership is in accordance with the guidelines for Payments Bank issued by RBI and subject to grant of the license by RBI. This partnership brings together the combined strengths of two of India’s Fortune 500 corporations committed to making a transformative impact on India’s financial inclusion landscape. It will deploy state-of-the-art technology, build scalable infrastructure and create extensive branch and business correspondent network in order to provide last-mile access and intuitive user experience to all sections of society.
