Idea Cellular to provide marketing touch points for Axis Bank

Axis Bank today said that it had appointed Idea Cellular as its business correspondent and provide the complete range of Axis Bank's financial products and services through its retail outlets, which will act as customer service points.

The association will be flagged-off with a remittance pilot between Dharavi in suburban Mumbai and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, which will enable money transfer using the mobile platform, the company informed.

The money will be remitted through an account-to-account transfer if the beneficiary has an Axis bank account or through the IMT module developed and provided by Empays Payments Systems otherwise.

S K Mitra, president, agri business and rural banking, Axis Bank, said, ''We were particularly keen on a mobile-based channel, considering the reach and the low cost service delivery platform. Since only 41 per cent of the adult population have bank accounts, whereas more than 70 per cent of adults own a mobile connection, associating with a telecom service provider looked to be the apt choice.''

Idea and Axis Bank will also explore extending the association to include other banking products and services such as savings, credit, micro-insurance, micro-SIP and micro-pensions in a phased manner, the company said in a statement.

On completion of the successful pilot, the banking services will be launched throughout India.

 ''We are pleased to partner Axis Bank in its Financial Inclusion initiative through a pilot based on mobile-enabled low-cost banking service model,'' Ambrish Jain, director,  operations, Idea Cellular said. ''Idea's mobile technology platform will enable the provision of a gamut of banking products and services to the end customer, and allow cash transactions at select Idea retail points.''