Airtel Payments Bank’s FY23 Profit Surges 141% To INR 21.17 Cr

Banking on strong growth in user base and payments volume, Bharti Airtel’s subsidiary Airtel Payments Bank saw its net profit zoom 141% to INR 21.7 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 9.2 Cr in FY22.. 

Revenue of the payments bank also jumped to INR 1,291 Cr in FY23, up 37% from INR 941 Cr in FY22. 

“Our strong performance is a validation of the payments bank model and its role in serving the digital and financial inclusion needs of the country,” Airtel Payments Bank MD Anubrata Biswas said.

Customer deposits surged 59% to INR 1,865 Cr at the end of FY23. 

Overall, the bank clocked a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of INR 2.01 Lakh during the course of the fiscal year. 

Airtel attributed the positive numbers to growth across all three core business segments – urban digital consumer, rural under-banked, and industries and businesses.

Earlier in February, reports suggested that Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises was looking to merge its payments bank with fintech major Paytm. While both Airtel and Paytm denied any knowledge of such developments, reports also surfaced that the telecom mogul was also scouting the markets to buy Paytm shares from other shareholders.

There were also reports previously stating that Airtel Payments Bank was eyeing a public listing on the bourses soon but no concrete plans have been formalised yet. 

Airtel Payments Bank commenced operations in early 2017 with a seed investment of $440 Mn and has turned out to be one of the only two payments banks that is still profitable, the other one being Fino Payments Bank. 

Of the total 11 companies that received the licence including the likes of big names such as Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tech Mahindra and Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank, most have shut shop while the remaining have been struggling to stay afloat. 

Airtel Payments Bank operates within the larger Indian fintech market which presents a total addressable market opportunity of $2.1 Tn by 2030.

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