Telecom Lead India: Airtel mCommerce Services and Axis
Bank have inked a deal for offering mobile banking and payment services to
unbanked people in India.
Savings and remittance solutions will be provided to
Airtel mobile users in Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side and Bihar and East
UP on the receiving side.
Airtel and Axis Bank will extend these services to other remittance
corridors in the country. Gradually other banking products and services like
micro Recurring Deposits, micro Fixed Deposits, small loans and micro-insurance
products will also be provided through this platform.
Bharti Airtel expands airtel mobile money service to 300 cities
in India
Recently, Bharti Airtel expanded airtel money, a mobile wallet service, to 300 key
cities in India. The national availability of airtel money follows
the success of service’s first phase of launch in Delhi NCR and Chennai
in 2011.
Following the recent pan India launch of airtel money,
we are today excited to collaborate with Axis Bank to further strengthen our
mCommerce proposition for customers,” said Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India &
South Asia, Bharti Airtel.
According to estimates, nearly 43 percent of Indian
population does not have bank accounts and continues to rely on cash for
majority of transactions as well as payments.
The focused target segment of the ‘airtel money Super
Account powered by Axis Bank’ will be remittance corridors and unbanked areas,
where there is greater need of easy money transfers and savings.
The airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank acts as
a no-frills bank account that comes with remittance capabilities which 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.
Airtel’s extensive distribution network spans over 1.5
million outlets.
“We are delighted to partner with Airtel for
strengthening our financial inclusion initiative. Our alliance with Airtel will
help the Bank to reach out to excluded segments of our population, both in
rural and urban centers, with reasonably priced banking and financial
services,” said Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO, Axis Bank.
Infosys is the technology innovation partner for the
launch of airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank. With Infosys
WalletEdge and Finacle Digital Commerce, this alliance will leverage the
company’s proven IP and expertise in mobile commerce towards delivering banking
and payment services to India’s unbanked millions.
