No new customers for Airtel Payments Bank since January; here's why

Airtel payments bank has not been onboarding new customers since January this year following a directive by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The directive from the apex bank came after it found that the company was violating operating guidelines and know your customer (KYC) norms. In March, RBI had also imposed a fine of Rs 50 million on the company regarding violation of norms.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in November last year had also barred Airtel from conducting Aadhaar-based e-KYC of its mobile customers and payments bank clients after reports emerged that payment bank accounts were opened for its mobile subscribers without "informed consent" and cooking gas subsidy worth billion of rupees was deposited into them.

Regarding the RBI directive, an Airtel payments bank spokesperson said, "The queries raised by you are old matters that are already in the public domain. Airtel Payments Bank has not been on boarding new customers as per RBI directive since January 5, 2018. We have already shared all the details relating to our compliance with the authorities and are hopeful of a resolution at the earliest."

The RBI had conducted a supervisory visit to the Airtel payments bank in November 2017 based on the complaints and reports alleging that the bank had opened customer accounts without a clear/specific consent of the customers.