In a bid to design a cashless Bharat, Idea to start its payment banking services soon

Aditya Birla promoted, Idea is all set to commence its payment banking operation early in 2017. Airtel was the first to start and commence the payment banking operations, partnering with Kotak Mahindra Bank. Apart from Idea there is India Post Payment Bank, FINO PayTech, Paytm, Vodafone India, Reliance Industries, National Security Depository, all of whom are in the race to commence their payment banking soon but are waiting due to some or the other reason.

Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank will be a 51:49 joint venture between Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.,(ABNL) and telecom major, Idea Cellular, respectively. In November 2016, Airtel had rolled out its banking services in Rajasthan and was the first bank to start payment bank services in India. The pilot rollout in Rajasthan saw over one lakh customers opening savings accounts in less than two weeks of commencement of services. Payment banks can accept deposits upto Rs 1 lakh.

Meanwhile the markets closed at 26626, up by 260 points; whereas the Nifty ended up by 80 points. The markets in the last trade of 2016 ended quite strong.