Airtel said that it will be commencing its payments bank operations by the second quarter of this financial year, the company said in a notification to the BSE. Airtel also renamed its mobile commerce subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Service Limited (AMSL) to Airtel Payments Bank. Last month Airtel Payments Bank received a payments bank license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Airtel Payments Bank, which operates Airtel Money, already has a prepaid payments instrument license from the RBI; Airtel applied for a payments bank license in January 2015, to convert the same into a payments bank license. Airtel Money was launched in 2011 and allows customers to use their mobile phones as a secure way for making payments and transferring money. In India, Airtel Money posted a net profit of Rs 4.47 crore for the year ended March, 2015. The company had posted a loss of Rs 106.26 crore in the fiscal year ended March, 2014. Airtel Money hasn’t disclosed operational data for India for since March 2014. In February, Kotak Mahindra Bank bought a 19.9% stake in Airtel’s mobile commerce subsidiary AMSL for Rs 98.38 crore. This came after RBI granted an “in-principle” approval to 11 applicants for a payments bank license in August 2015, which included Airtel and Vodafone. At the time of application for the payments bank license, Airtel Money said that it would form a joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Bank. Redesigned platform: Late last month, Airtel announced the redesign of its online recharge and payments…
