Airtel Payments Bank, the first payments bank in India to go live, on Friday said that any customer opening a savings account with it, will get one minute of talk time on his/her Airtel mobile for every rupee deposited.

For example, if a customer opens an account with a deposit of ₹1,000 then he/she will get 1,000 minutes of free talk time on his/her Airtel mobile number. The talk time can be used for calling all over India. This benefit is applicable on first time deposits only, the company said.

The offer will be valid from Airtel to Airtel mobile minutes with a validity period of 30 days.

“We are leveraging Airtel’s telecom ecosystem to bring banking services to the doorsteps of every Indian. We are confident that this additional benefit along with the industry-best interest rate on deposits will encourage customers to open accounts with us and give a big boost to customer acquisition,” Shashi Arora, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Payments Bank, said.

He said the company was also undertaking a massive drive to enroll over one-lakh merchants in Rajasthan by the year-end, who will not be charged anything for accepting digital payments from Airtel Payments Bank customers.

“We believe this will boost the digital payments ecosystem hugely and reduce dependence on cash,” he added.

Airtel Payments Bank has rolled out pilot services in Rajasthan with the objective of testing its systems and processes ahead of full scale pan-India launch. Customers in towns and villages across Rajasthan will now be able to open bank accounts at Airtel retail outlets, which will also act as Airtel banking points and offer a range of basic, convenient banking services.

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