Airtel Payments Bank reported deposits of Rs 68.33 crore at the end of the financial year ended 31st March 2017, which was its first year of operation, according to its annual report. Its top 20 depositors account for around Rs 20.45 lakh (around 0.3% of total deposits), which is probably a function the Reserve Bank of India limiting deposits in Payments Banks to Rs 1 lakh. For HDFC Bank Ltd, for example, this number was 9.32% in FY17. More on the Payments Banks operating guidelines here. It's worth noting, though, that the Airtel Payments Bank hasn't been around for the full financial year: it had launched as a pilot in November 2016, starting with 10,000 outlets in Rajasthan. Subsequently it became the first payments bank to roll out services nationally. Airtel will use its telecom retail network in towns and villages to open bank accounts. Airtel has been incentivising its customers to sign up for the payments bank by giving a minute of telecom talk time for each rupee deposited (albeit with a limited validity). Airtel Payments Bank financials In its annual report, Bharti Airtel Ltd notes that the turnover for Airtel Payments Bank in FY16 was Rs 395 million (Rs 39.6 crore), and in FY17, was Rs 264 million (Rs 26.4 crore). We checked with Airtel for a clarification regarding how revenue reduced in a year that the payments bank became operational. In response, an Airtel representative said that "The financial reporting standard for Airtel Payments Bank (formerly Airtel M-commerce…
