Airtel M Commerce renamed Airtel Payments Bank

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday renamed its subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Services to Airtel Payments Bank and plans to launch the services in the second quarter of the current fiscal.

"The new identity reflects our strong focus on the payments bank segment... With Airtel's deep distribution network, we believe that Airtel Payments Bank is uniquely placed to deliver quality banking services to customers by leveraging the power of mobile telephony," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

On April 11, Airtel became the first entity in the country to receive a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"The company plans to start rolling out its banking network in the second quarter of the current financial year," said the statement.

Airtel Payments Bank Limited (which began operations in 2011 as Airtel M-Commerce Services) provides money transfer services and semi-closed wallet services and has presence in over 800 towns across the country.

In August last year, RBI had given in-principle nod to the company along with 10 others, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone m-pesa, Department of Posts, for starting operations as a payments bank.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has 19.90% stake in Airtel Payments Bank, which it bought for about Rs 98.8 crore.