It will carry out most banking operations like accepting deposits but can't advance loans or issue credit cards.
Telecoms investor Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and retailer Future Group were among the first big names to apply for licenses to run so-called payments banks
Regulators will need to allow the model to evolve to allow profits to flow, says Una Gulani.
Bharti Airtel aims to leverage its 180 million plus digital service customers and its wide presence in rural areas to grow its payment bank business. "We are well placed as we can leverage the 180 million plus customers we have across our digital assets. "We offer a plethora of services such as lucrative interest rates, gift cards, FASTag, telecom recharges, payments and debit cards. "Our large merchant base of more than eight million allows us to drive both engagement and monetisation.
Public sector banks' (PSBs') employee count grew for the first time in five years while private sector banks' staff strength saw a decline in 2024-25 (FY25), according to latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The employee count of state-owned lenders rose 0.22 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 757,641 at the end of March 31, 2025 from 756,015 in FY24.
A total of 41 companies had applied for the permit
A Pakistan-based gangster posted a video on social media purportedly showing the killing of a police officer in Gurdaspur, near the Indo-Pak border. A terror outfit has claimed responsibility for the incident, prompting a thorough investigation by Punjab Police.
Public sector banks have written off loans worth Rs 6.15 lakh crore in the last five and a half years, Parliament was informed on Monday.
Most public sector banks, flush with deposits now, offer 3-4% interest on savings deposits, while a few private sector banks go up to 6%.
The board is likely to take up the matter this month.
To deepen the financial inclusion process, and help get more people under the formal financial system, the RBI has mooted the idea of small banks and payments banks.
Rediff explains why the system, not the Budget, is the problem.
With the Iran war escalating sharply and crisis deepening in the global energy market, India on Monday unveiled a coordinated plan to support exporters and shippers caught in the fallout.
'This marks a turning point for Paytm, with the regulatory environment looking much clearer than it has been in the last two years.'
The RBI has doubled the limit of maximum balance that an individual customer can hold with payments banks to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1 lakh earlier with immediate effect to expand the ability of such lenders to cater to the needs of MSMEs and other businesses.
Payments banks are niche banks set up by the Reserve Bank of India to further the agenda of financial inclusion.
The Delhi High Court has suspended actor Rajpal Yadav's sentence in a cheque bounce case until March 18, allowing his release from jail after he deposited Rs 1.5 crore.
The Paytm Payments Bank will be headquartered in Noida and kick off its services from east and north to begin with
Taxpayers should consider ITR-U if they omitted income, wrongly claimed deductions or exemptions, or made reporting errors that led to a shortfall in tax payment.
PhonePe on Friday said it has got the final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator. With RBI authorisation in place, PhonePe will be able to expand its reach and tap into online merchants, with a particular focus on small and medium businesses (SMEs) across the country, according to a release.
ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar on Wednesday said "disruption" will happen in the industry due to technology and not because of the entry of new entities in the market.
'That journey across India has changed me forever.'
Post Office has 1,54,000 rural branches.
People close to Shanghvi reveal he is known to make surprising moves both inside and outside the pharma industry.
India Post may be keen to apply for payment bank licence.
India's third-largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has secured a 10-year breather on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This is expected to ease pressure on its balance sheet and enable the company to raise bank debt for capital expenditure.
The value of the rupee, which has slipped to the 92 per dollar mark, does not accurately reflect India's stellar economic fundamentals, the Economic Survey said on Thursday.
This single amendment, unfortunately, overshadows much of the Budget's promise, explains Harsh Roongta.
The RBI has flagged concerns over rising volatility in gold prices and advised lenders to exercise caution in the gold loan segment.
'There are no additional benefits for banks and market participants to use CBDC...'
Draft guidelines for Small Banks and Payments Banks were issued by the RBI in July and comments were invited till August 28.
'Reinvention is not a hugely difficult task. With technology as available today, you can reinvent yourself pretty quickly.'
Ask rediffGURU Naveenn Kummar your insurance mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Last August, RBI gave in-principle approval to 11 applicants.
The company will transfer its wallet business, which has over 218 million mobile wallet users, to the newly incorporated entity -- PPBL -- under the payments bank licence awarded to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 Communications that owns Paytm.
The IPPB, which is currently running pilot services in Raipur and Ranchi, needs a go-ahead from RBI for the software used for system integration
The Department of Posts was one of the 11 entities to get the in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India in 2015 for setting up a payments bank.
The previous largest weekly decline was recorded in the week ended November 15, 2024.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Payment Systems Report highlighted that between 2019 and 2024, credit card transactions doubled in volume and almost tripled in value. During the same period, however, debit card transactions witnessed a decline, both in volume and value.
Payment apps PhonePe and Paytm have helped citizens avert potential financial frauds worth Rs 200 crore by using the fraud risk indicator platform developed by the Department of Telecom, a senior Walmart group official said on Wednesday.
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