Paytm gets RBI licence to launch Payments Bank; operations likely from next month

New Delhi: Leading digital payments app Paytm on Tuesday said it bas been granted licence by the Reserve Bank of India for Payments Bank and is likely to start operations next month.

With this launch, Paytm Payments Bank will be the second one to be set up in the country after Airtel Payments Bank launched its pilot bank in Rajasthan in November 2016.

The first branch is expected to come up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh in the month of February.

"Today, Reserve Bank of India gave permission to formally launch Paytm Payments Bank. We can't wait to bring it in front of you," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of One97 Communications, said in a blogpost.

"No other role or responsibility means as much to me as the privilege of building Paytm Payments Bank, and I intend to take a full-time executive role in the Bank," Sharma said further.

Earlier in 2015, Paytm was one of the companies granted approval to launch Payments Bank and it had targeted Diwali for the launch. However, having miss the targets, the company on Tuesday announced that it has formally recieved permission to launch the bank.

"At Paytm Payments Bank, our aim is to build a new business model in banking industry, focussed on bringing financial services to 100’s of millions of un-served or underserved Indians," Sharma writes in the announcement. "With power of technology and innovation-at-scale, we aim to become a benchmark in world of banking," Paytm founder Sharma confirmed.

Currently, Airtel is the only player that has commenced Payments Bank operations. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank is expected to launch services in the first half of 2017.