Airtel Payments Bank waives off charges on cash withdrawal

Due to lockdown, Airtel Payments Bank has waived off all charges on cash withdrawal through instant money transfer as a financial aid for its account holders.

The company is also providing free insurance cover to its business correspondents. “Under this, if any Business Correspondent gets hospitalized due to COVID-19 then he/she will be eligible to receive a fixed allowance of INR 500 for each day of hospitalization, up to maximum of 15 days,” Airtel Payments Bank said in a statement.

The banking subsidiary of Bharti Group said that it has 30 million customers and provides services such as cash withdrawals, transfers and insurance via two lakh banking points such as small grocery, neighbourhood shops and medical stores.

During the month of April, Airtel Payments Bank boarded over 2.5 million customers through Aadhaar enabled payments system (AEPS), the company said. “Through AEPS, customers of any bank with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts can make financial transactions at the designated banking points of Airtel Payments Bank,” Airtel said.

 “One of the key goals of Payments Banks is to drive financial inclusion and take banking services deeper in underserved segments. Even in these difficult times our unique retail based model and vast network of Business Correspondents are keeping the lights on and serving a large under banked segment,” said Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank.

Airtel Payments Bank is a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank with the latter holding 19.99% stake in the company. It reported deposits of Rs 68.33 crore at the end of financial year ended March 2017, its first year of operation.