Airtel Payments Bank, the banking and finance business of Bharti Airtel, has now over 15 million monthly active users. The online bank's services first went live for the users in India back on April 11, 2016. Over the last five years, Airtel has invested a lot of resources into making the Payments Bank a more secure and faster experience for the users.
Much recently, Airtel Payments Bank officially launched the ‘Rewards123’ savings account for its users to help them earn rewards on the online transactions they make. To upgrade from a normal savings account to a Rewards123 account, users need to pay a nominal fee of Rs 299 per year.
According to an ET Telecom report, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal, in the Amazon Sambhav Summit 2021, said that Airtel Payments Bank is making good progress in the rural parts, tier-2, and tier-3 cities of India.
Bharti Airtel Added More Users Than Competition in Last 9 Months
Mittal said that Airtel has seen the worst multiple times and yet survived. The Indian business tycoon recalled the 2003-04 period when Airtel almost shut down and then in 2016 when Jio disrupted the telecom market with its free services and subsidised plans, due to which several companies had to close shops.
Amidst all the noise and hardships, Airtel survived and managed to grow its market share, brand index, and brand loyalty. Mittal said that Airtel has been adding more subscribers than its competition (Jio) for the last eight to nine months. The telco has been phenomenal in handling customers and providing a strong network experience.
Mittal said that despite dealing with ‘near-death experiences’, Airtel is in a very healthy shape today. He was proud of the fact that Airtel managed to raise up to $12 billion in the last four to five years, even though it was one of its hardest periods. Mittal believes that it was Airtel’s commitment and credibility which allowed the telco to raise all this money.
Bharti Airtel recently created a new company structure wherein the telecom business, along with all the digital assets of the company, have moved under Bharti Airtel Limited. The Airtel Payments Bank will, however, remain a separate entity from the telecom business and will play a major role in providing e-finance services to the people of India in the coming years.
