Mumbai: Telecom giant Bharti Airtel has told investors that it is confident that its subsidiary Airtel Payments Bank (APBL) is a unicorn – a term used to refer to startups with a valuation of over $1 billion. The payments bank reported its first full-year profitability of Rs 9 crore for FY22. Revenue for the fiscal grew 50% to over Rs 941 crore.
Talking to TOI, CEO Anubrata Biswas Said said a key driver of profitability was the ability to add multiple customers at a relatively low cost compared to the banking industry. The payments bank has also built a large fee income pipeline from B2B (business-to-business) services, fees on transactions, customer subscriptions and interest spread. The claim of Unicorn was made by the bank’s management in a conversation with analysts.
Biswas said, “Our dream state is to become one-third banker, one-third startup and one-third FMCG distributor. If we work solely as a bank, we will not be able to operate on a large scale.” The other advantage for the payments bank is Airtel’s distribution network, which the bank is able to include as banking correspondents. Now it has 5 lakh banking points.
APBL is one of the six payments banks that are licensed. Although reserve Bank of India 11 applications were approved, five had applied. Of the six holding licences, apart from APBL, only three – India Post Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank and Fino Payments Bank – have significant operations. NSDL Payments Bank Started operations in October 2018 but has not expanded yet. Reliance Industries-Jio Payments Bank is yet to commence its operations.
Talking to TOI, CEO Anubrata Biswas Said said a key driver of profitability was the ability to add multiple customers at a relatively low cost compared to the banking industry. The payments bank has also built a large fee income pipeline from B2B (business-to-business) services, fees on transactions, customer subscriptions and interest spread. The claim of Unicorn was made by the bank’s management in a conversation with analysts.
Biswas said, “Our dream state is to become one-third banker, one-third startup and one-third FMCG distributor. If we work solely as a bank, we will not be able to operate on a large scale.” The other advantage for the payments bank is Airtel’s distribution network, which the bank is able to include as banking correspondents. Now it has 5 lakh banking points.
APBL is one of the six payments banks that are licensed. Although reserve Bank of India 11 applications were approved, five had applied. Of the six holding licences, apart from APBL, only three – India Post Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank and Fino Payments Bank – have significant operations. NSDL Payments Bank Started operations in October 2018 but has not expanded yet. Reliance Industries-Jio Payments Bank is yet to commence its operations.