Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with Axis Bank in a bid to digitise the cash collection system in India’s tier III cities and semi-urban regions. Airtel Payments Bank will leverage the extensive reach of its digital-led neighbourhood banking model to support Axis Bank with the digitisation of last-mile cash collections.
Through this partnership, Axis Bank and its customers will benefit significantly by building operational efficiencies in the cash management process. This would also speed up the payment cycle and help in releasing the bandwidth of field agents who operate across the country. These agents will no longer have to travel back to the branch to deposit the collected equated monthly instalment (EMI) amount. Agents can now deposit the amount at any Airtel Payments Bank outlet in the neighbourhood, and it will be immediately transferred to the Axis Bank accounts. This process will further mitigate the risk of carrying cash collections by agents during long-distance travel. Additionally, this process will help avoid any delay, as Airtel Payments Bank outlets operate much beyond the traditional banking hours and over the weekends too.
With this move, Axis Bank customers will be able to make direct EMI deposits for loan payments at the 500,000 banking points of Airtel Payments Bank. Meanwhile, customers will save on time and travel by accessing the option to pay their EMI at the nearest Airtel Payments Bank outlet.
Commenting on the partnership, Gaurav Seth, chief finance officer and head, Institutional Business, Airtel Payments Bank, said, “We are delighted to join hands with Axis Bank for digitisation of last-mile cash collection. Our collection management services reduce the challenges of managing physical cash and also mitigates the risk of cash in transit by digitising the entire chain. This brings in huge operational efficiencies for our partner as well as their customers.”
Meanwhile, Munish Sharda, group executive and head, Bharat Banking, Axis Bank, said, “At Axis Bank, we have been constantly working with leading organisations in the industry to offer the best value proposition to our customers. This partnership with Airtel Payment Bank is yet another step towards embracing digitisation, offering greater convenience and faster solutions to our vast customer base in the semi-rural regions of the country.”
