Bharti Airtel Limited, in partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank, is planning to apply for a payments bank licence. Under the partnership arrangement, Kotak Mahindra Bank will buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, subject to the latter getting the payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and clearing other regulatory requirements as part of the procedure.
AMSL, under the brand name Airtel Money, offers mobile money services and is at present planning to convert its existing prepaid payment instrument licence into a payments bank licence.
Payment banks are being introduced in the rural and remote areas of the country for offering limited but critical services such as money transfers, loans and deposit collection. According to the Reserve Bank of India, companies can apply for a payments bank licence till February 2, 2015.
