SBI, Bharti Airtel form mobile banking JV

India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel and the country's largest lender State Bank of India will together initially invest Rs100 crore in a joint venture for mobile-based banking, SBI chairman O P Bhatt said in New Delhi today.

Bharti Airtel said in September it had received a licence from the central bank to launch mobile payment services. The joint venture is meant to make available banking services to the country's 'unbanked' population.

Bhatt, said, "We look forward to taking the benefits of banking to the Indian masses and building a more inclusive society."

With mobile teledensity standing at a strong 60 per cent, the market possesses great potential for a collaboration that combines the strengths of both banking and telecom sectors, he added.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel, said, "This will be a complete game changer, leveraging SBI's exposure in the banking sector along with Airtel's 150 million strong customer base and ecosystem of over 1.5 million retailers and distributors across India."

The joint venture, acting as a 'business correspondent', will engage Airtel's retailers as customer service points (CSP) all over the country in a phased manner. Existing and new airtel mobile customers will be able to visit these outlets and open new SBI bank accounts and avail of other banking products and services available at CSPs. Additionally, existing SBI customers will also get service at these outlets.

The JV incorporation between SBI and Airtel will be concluded by 31 March 2011.

Bharti Airtel had 149.4 million mobile customers in India at end-November, in a market of more than 700 million mobile users. India is the world's fastest-growing and the second-biggest market for mobile connections. (See: Idea Cellular to provide marketing touch points for Axis Bank)