Aditya Birla Nuvo JV to commence payment bank srvcs by March

Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL) today said it plans to commence payments bank services by the end of this financial year.
ABNL is one the successful applicants to get in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank to set up a payments bank.
Following the approval, ABNL incorporated Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank -- a 51:49 joint venture (JV) with Idea -- in February.
"Targeting to launch services by the end of 2016-17, subject to regulatory approvals", ABNL said in a result presentation for period ended March 2016.
The JV is in the process of appointing senior management team, selecting the right IT system and defining innovative products and cost efficient processes before starting services, it said.

The payments bank JV will acquire customers online, leveraging on Aditya Birla Group's nearly 45 million digital customers as well as offline riding on the strength of Idea's over 2 million retail distribution channel across 3.9 lakh towns and villages, ABNL said.

It will partner with its 100 per cent financial services arm Aditya Birla Financial Services (ABFS), along with select universal banks to offer a range of banking products.
The company will integrate the National Electronic Funds Transfer, Immediate Payment Service and Prepaid Payment Instruments business of Idea with the new Payments Bank to run "as single entity".
ABNL also said that the earnings before tax of its financial services arm Aditya Birla Financial Services (ABFS) rose by 17 per cent to Rs 995 crore for the fiscal ended March 2016, it said. Revenue also went up by 17 per cent to Rs 9,299 crore during the fiscal.

ABNL is awaiting final approval from Irdai to foray into health insurance business in the second half of this fiscal.
Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd. (ABHIL), currently a 100 per cent subsidiary of ABFS, has already entered into a 51:49 JV with MMI Holdings of South Africa and has received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
ABNL, the USD 3.6 billion conglomerate gets the highest 40 per cent of its business share from the financial arm.