# Airtel Payments Bank

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/airtel-payments-bank
> research date 2026-05-30 · extracted at 2026-10-07
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Airtel Payments Bank — official](https://www.airtel.in/bank/)

## Overview

**Airtel Payments Bank** is **Indian payments bank** + **Bharti Airtel Indian telecom parent NSE: BHARTIARTL ~70% controlling + Kotak Mahindra Bank ~10% + Bharti Enterprises** + **India's first Payments Bank operating under RBI Payments Bank license** + **~70M+ Indian customers** + **~500K+ banking points network primarily Airtel retail outlets nationwide** <sup>[1][1], [India report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IN)</sup>.

## History

**Aug 2015 — RBI grants in-principle Payments Bank licenses to 11 entities including Bharti Airtel as part of RBI's financial inclusion strategy**.

**Jan 12 2017 — Airtel Payments Bank launched as India's first Payments Bank** distinctive Indian payments banking heritage.

**2017 — Airtel Payments Bank Aadhaar-eKYC controversy + Rs 25 crore fine + Aadhaar-eKYC authorisation suspension**.

**2018 — Airtel Thanks app + Airtel Payments Bank integration**.

## Ownership & operator

**Operating entity**: **Airtel Payments Bank Limited** (Indian payments bank; Bharti Airtel + Kotak Mahindra Bank + Bharti Enterprises).

**Major shareholders**: **Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE: BHARTIARTL + BSE: 532454; Indian telecom group; ~480M+ Indian wireless subscribers) ~70% controlling + Kotak Mahindra Bank ~10% + Bharti Enterprises**.

**Regulators**: **RBI**.

## Technical integration

Airtel Thanks app (iOS + Android; ~70M+ Indian customers) + Airtel Payments Bank web online + ~500K+ banking points network primarily Airtel retail outlets nationwide + Airtel Payments Bank Visa + Mastercard + RuPay cards; UPI + BharatQR + IMPS + RuPay + Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System AePS; max balance Rs 2 lakh per customer under Payments Bank framework.

## Implementations & partners

**Bharti Airtel parent**: Airtel Money (Airtel Money India; Bharti Airtel mobile money pre-Payments Bank evolution) + [Airtel Money](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/airtel-money) (Airtel Money Africa; Bharti Airtel Africa mobile money operations across 14 African countries; ~33M+ African customers).

**Kotak Mahindra Bank minority partner**: [Kotak Mahindra Bank / Kotak811](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/kotak-mahindra) (Kotak Mahindra Bank; BSE: 500247 + NSE: KOTAKBANK; India's #4 private commercial bank by assets).

**Major Indian payments bank + payments competitors**: [Paytm Payments Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/paytm-payments-bank) (Paytm Payments Bank; India's #2 Payments Bank; Mar 15 2024 RBI operational shutdown for non-compliance) + [India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/india-post-payments-bank) (India Post Payments Bank IPPB; Indian government India Post Payments Bank; ~600M+ India Post customers) + [Fino Payments Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/fino-payments-bank) (Fino Payments Bank; BSE: 543386 + NSE: FINOPB; Indian payments bank) + [Jio Payments Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/jio-payments-bank) (Jio Payments Bank; Reliance Jio + SBI JV Indian payments bank) + NSDL Payments Bank (NSDL Payments Bank; NSDL Indian depository payments bank) + [PhonePe](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/phonepe) (PhonePe; Walmart Flipkart subsidiary; India's largest UPI wallet by transactions) + [Google Pay](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/google-pay) (Google Pay India; India's #2 UPI wallet by transactions) + [Paytm](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/paytm) (Paytm; BSE: 543396 + NSE: PAYTM; Indian super-app wallet) + [Amazon Pay (India)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/amazon-pay-india) (Amazon Pay India; Indian wallet by Amazon).

**Regulator**: RBI.

## Status

**Active, Indian payments bank + Bharti Airtel Indian telecom parent NSE:BHARTIARTL ~70% controlling + Kotak Mahindra Bank ~10% + India's first Payments Bank operating under RBI Payments Bank license + ~70M+ Indian customers + ~500K+ banking points network primarily Airtel retail outlets nationwide** <sup>[1][1], [2][2]</sup>.

## Sources

[1]: https://www.airtel.in/bank/ "Airtel Payments Bank — official"
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airtel_Payments_Bank "Airtel Payments Bank — Wikipedia"
[in-cro]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IN

- [1] [Airtel Payments Bank — official][1]
- [2] [Airtel Payments Bank — Wikipedia][2]
- <sup>[India report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IN)</sup> In-corpus: `reports/countries/IN-india.md`

## Source

Biography extracted from [airtel-payments-bank.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/source/wallets/airtel-payments-bank). See `matrix.md` for standards-support matrix if present.