Airtel Payments Bank customers' deposit surges 75% to Rs 1,000 cr in 2021

Money deposited with Airtel Payments Bank surged 75 per cent to Rs 1,000 crore in 2021 as compared to the previous year, a top company official said.

The payments bank had recorded around Rs 570 crore worth of deposits in 2020.

Airtel Payments Bank MD and CEO Anubrata Biswas told PTI that the company added close to 35 lakh customers during the year and crossed 10-crore customer mark in 2021.

"The growth in deposits is an endorsement of the trust that customers have placed with us. With our strong distribution and digital banking platform, the bank offers a market-leading proposition to both the urban digital and the retail customers," Biswas said.

He said the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to increase the day-end savings limit to Rs 2 lakh for payments bank account was a big boost last year.

"Airtel Payments Bank took the market lead to implement this enhanced limit for its customers and soon started offering an attractive 6 per cent per annum rate of interest on savings account deposits of over Rs 1 lakh," Biswas said.

The bank turned profitable in the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and has achieved an annual revenue run rate of Rs 1,000 crore.

"Airtel Payments Bank is the fastest-growing bank with over 11.5 crore users across the country and a merchant base of over 80 million.

"With an annualised GMV (gross merchandise value) of over USD 17 billion (about Rs 1.27 lakh crore) and revenues close to Rs 1,000 crore on an annual basis, Airtel Payments Bank reported that it turned profitable for September quarter," Biswas said.