mCommerce to Get a Boost: Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank Join Hands

Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank announce strategic alliance for financial inclusion Bharti Airtel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel mCommerce Services Limited, and Axis Bank today announced a partnership for extending banking and payment services to India’s unbanked millions through the ubiquitous mobile platform. This alliance will leverage the companies’ respective strengths in telecom and banking sectors to empower financially excluded citizens of India with banking products and services towards enhancing their livelihood and quality of life.

Key Points

• Combine strengths of banking and telecom sectors to deliver banking services through the ubiquitous mobile platform
• Launches ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’, a no-frills savings bank account of Axis Bank on Airtel’s mobile platform, in partnership with Infosys
• Money transfer with cash-out now available across leading remittance corridors; customers can save money and earn interest too

With the partnership announced today, no-frills savings account of Axis Bank will be opened for customers on the Airtel Money platform called ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ offering customers banking transactions including cash deposit, money transfer and withdrawal. These accounts will provide convenient, safe and secure savings avenue to Financial Inclusion customers’ paying them savings account interest and also enabling them to make remittances. To begin with, savings and remittance solutions will be provided in the top four remittance corridors involving Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side and Bihar and East UP on the receiving side. Thereafter these services may be extended 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.

The ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ offers the following key features:

• A no-frills account of Axis Bank on the Airtel Money platform
• Cash Deposit / Withdrawal from authorised ‘airtel money – Axis Bank’ outlets
• Remittance of funds to other ‘airtel money Super Accounts’
• Remittance to other bank accounts through NEFT (to be enabled soon)
• Savings bank interest on balances

Mobile customers can visit nearest authorised ‘airtel money – Axis Bank outlets’ and open ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ on their mobile phones by submitting the prescribed application form and KYC documents.

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, which will be possible with this account and the need for other financial products like deposits, insurance, loans etc. that will get enabled soon. Going forward, the mobile platform can also facilitate other micro-payments. Such collaboration between India’s leading mobile and banking services providers represents a model partnership meant for making the idea of inclusive banking a reality for customers in India

More on www.airtel.com

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