Airtel M-commerce arm gets payment bank licence from RBI

Bharti Airtel today said that its mobile commerce subsidiary, Airtel M Commerce Services, has received payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
"We are pleased to inform you that Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited has been granted payments bank licence from Reserve Bank of India on April 11, 2016," Airtel said in a regulatory filing.
RBI in August last had given in-principle to the company, which operates under brand name of Airtel Money, along with 10 others, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone m-pesa, Department of Posts, for starting operations as a payments bank.

The Payments Bank will be set up as a differentiated bank and shall confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services, as per RBI notification.
Payments Banks will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer.
They will be allowed to issue ATM/debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not the credit cards.

These banks can also distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and insurance products.
In February, Kotak Mahindra Bank signed an agreement to
pick 19.9 per cent stake for Rs 98.38 crore in Airtel M Commerce Services.

All companies, which received in-principle approval from RBI in August, will have to make their banks operational by March 2017.
Through Airtel Money, the company offers ticketing, mobile and DTH recharges, utility bill payments, online shopping, money transfer services. It also has business correspondent tie-up with Axis Bank and provides business to business payment collection services at present.