Earn 7.25% Interest on Savings Accounts With Airtel Payments Bank

Giving further impetus to the digitisation of economy and payments, Airtel launched its payments bank services as a pilot project in Rajasthan. Conceived as a brainchild of former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, payments bank offer a simpler banking alternative to the masses tapping on the countrywide retail network of mostly telecom service providers. As part of the first round of approvals, some of the leading companies in India have been granted licenses to run payments banks.

The thrust towards financial inclusion

Payments banks, such as the one launched by Airtel, are meant to promoste financial inclusion, and as of now are only allowed to offer savings accounts with a cash limit of rupees one lakhs. They are not allowed to offer loans or open fixed deposit accounts. Further, they cant issue any ATM or debit cards. However, they are free to offer interest on the money parked with them. So, the biggest allurement for someone with a savings account with Airtel payments bank is the 7.25% interest rate offered, which is way above the 4% offered by most banks these days. People who decide to park money in such a savings account can withdraw cash from any of 1.5 million Airtel outlets across the country. The airtel mobile customers can have their mobile number as the bank account number as well. The service can be accessed via USSD of by simply dialing in to the service number on feature phones. The bank shall not issue any receipts or accept paper for authentication of users. The entire KYC process shall be completed electronically using Aadhaar for authentication.