Bharti Airtel said that Kotak Mahindra Bank has agreed to buy 19.90% stake in Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd (AMSL) for Rs 98.38 crore. The move is aimed at speeding up the process for setting up a payments bank.
AMSL, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, was among the 11 companies that received a payments bank license from the Reserve Bank of India in August last year. Subsequently, Kotak had said that it would buy a stake in the Bharti group company.
"Bharti Airtel Limited, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) and Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL) have signed the Share Subscription and Shareholders Agreement, wherein, KMBL has agreed to acquire 9,83,82,022 equity shares aggregating to Rs. 98.38 crores in cash, representing 19.90% of the paid-up capital of AMSL," the telco said in a notice to the stock exchanges.
AMSL's revenue in 2014-15 stood at Rs 121.4 crore, up from Rs 42.6 crore in the previous financial year.
