The entire nation has been standstill because of the outbreak of COVID-19. To ensure safety from the virus, the government has already announced 21 days precautionary lockdown till April 14. Not only this, but organisations have also announced their employees to work from home, and people are not being allowed to move out from their homes except for essential and necessary tasks. To ensure digital users are connected amid the lockdown period, Bharti Airtel has announced that its customers will get the facility to recharge their prepaid numbers at ATMs, Grocery and Pharmacy Stores. The facility to provide recharge service at necessary outlets will help the subscribers to get their recharge done without any external hassle. Notably, Reliance Jio also introduced the ATM recharge facility right after the country going into lockdown.
Airtel Partners With Leading Organisations for Alternate Recharge Facility
Gopal Vittal, who is the CEO of Bharti Airtel, stated that the lockdown period has created a hassle for subscribers to get their recharge done as the retail stores are shut down until April 14, 2020. To ensure smooth and hassle-free connectivity, Airtel has partnered with HDFC and ICICI Bank to provide recharge facility in their ATMs. Similarly, the telco giant has teamed up with Big Bazaar grocery stores and Apollo pharmacies to offer prepaid recharge facility.
"We also recognise that there is a large population which isn't online and is unable to recharge at their regular retailers. To address that, we have activated several new channels - bank ATMs, pharmacies as well as grocery stores. We also want to thank our partners – HDFC, ICICI, Apollo and Big Bazaar - who have helped us enable this in a span of days," said Gopal Vittal in an email sent to Airtel customers.
Reliance Jio Numbers Can Also Be Recharged at Bank ATMs
Similar to Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio has also teamed up with nine different banks to offer recharge facility to its prepaid subscribers. As per the market data, the nine banks that have teamed up with Reliance Jio has more than 90,000 ATMs in India. Some of them are State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and many more.
Airtel Extends Validity of Prepaid Numbers
To ensure users are connected amid the precautionary lockdown period. Bharti Airtel has extended the validity of nearly 80 million subscribers who fall under the category of migrant workers and daily wage earners to help them stay connected with their loved ones.
Not only this, but the former leading telecom operator has also credited Rs 10 talk time in their accounts to help them in stressful and critical conditions. Similar to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL have also extended the validity of their prepaid plans along with free talk time credit to millions of subscribers especially who fall under daily wage earners and migrant workers category.
