Bharti Airtel is aiming to build its Airtel Payments Bank business by leveraging its 180 million-plus digital services customers and rural presence reported Business Standard.
“We are well placed as we can leverage the 180 million-plus customers we have across our digital assets. We offer a plethora of services such as lucrative interest rates, gift cards, FASTag, telecom recharges, payments, and debit cards. Our large merchant base of more than eight million allows us to drive both engagement and monetization,” Airtel chief executive officer Gopal Vittal said in a conference call Wednesday post the announcement of Q2 results.
Airtel Payments Bank commenced commercial operations in 2016 and today has a customer base of around 115 million, including 31 million monthly transaction users.
The chief executive noted the payment bank’s yearly revenue of approximately Rs 1,000 crore and the bank’s operating and net profit in the second quarter.
Airtel, which has a subscriber base of 323.47 million, notes that the payments bank sector, together with enterprise and digital, will be important growth drivers.
Vittal stated that the recent spike in digital transactions, combined with the growing penetration of 4G devices, will further promote digital payments. He noted that Airtel has a competitive advantage over its rivals because of its presence in tier-3 cities.
