Bharti Airtel, the leading telecom operator in India through its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel mCommerce Services Limited, enters a strategic alliance with Axis Bank today. With the partnership announced today, they planned to extend Banking and payment services to India's unbanked millions through the ubiquitous mobile platform.

The alliance will offer banking transactions for Airtel customers thru Airtel money platform called ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’. Customers can now perform banking transactions including cash deposit, money transfer and withdrawal at their convenience. Also, the accounts will provide convenient, safe and secure savings avenue to Financial Inclusion customers’ paying them savings account interest and also enabling them to make remittances. To start-up with, customers will be provided savings and remittance solutions in the top four remittance corridors involving Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side and Bihar and East UP on the receiving side. Later, it will be extended to other remittance corridors in the country providing a deep pool of services and other banking products like micro Recurring Deposits, micro Fixed Deposits, small loans and micro-insurance products.



Launching the services, Mr.Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said, “Following the recent pan India launch of airtel money, we are today excited to collaborate with Axis Bank to further strengthen our mCommerce proposition for customers. According to estimates, nearly 43% of our country’s population does not have bank accounts and continues to rely on cash for majority of transactions as well as payments. The all new ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ acts as a no-frills bank account that comes with remittance capabilities which empower customers to send money, withdraw cash from the nearby designated airtel money outlets, keep money safe and even enjoy interest on savings through their mobile device. With Axis Bank’s expertise in banking and Airtel’s extensive distribution network that spans over 1.5 million outlets, together, we are confident that this association will play a transformational role in furthering economic empowerment and fast-tracking India’s financial inclusion agenda”.

Commenting at the launch event held in Mumbai, Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO, Axis Bank said, "We are delighted to partner with Airtel for strengthening our financial inclusion initiative. Our alliance with Airtel will help the Bank to reach out to excluded segments of our population, both in rural and urban centres, with reasonably priced banking and financial services."

Infosys, a global leader in consulting and technology, is the technology innovation partner for the launch of ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’. With Infosys WalletEdge™ and Finacle™ Digital Commerce, this alliance will leverage the company’s proven IP and expertise in mobile commerce towards delivering banking and payment services to India’s unbanked millions.

The ‘airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ offers the following key features:

• A no-frills account of Axis Bank on the Airtel Money platform


• Cash Deposit / Withdrawal from authorised ‘airtel money – Axis Bank’ outlets


• Remittance of funds to other ‘airtel money Super Accounts’


• Remittance to other bank accounts through NEFT (to be enabled soon)


• Savings bank interest on balances