Sunil Bharti Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel has announced a partnership with Sanjiv Bajaj-led Bajaj Finance to build financial services digital platform and deepen penetration to even remote areas of the country on January 20. Initially, the telecom giant will offer Bajaj Finance’s retail financial products on the Airtel Thanks App and later via its nation-wide network of stores, according to the release.
The financial services major and telecom giant have committed to adhere to regulatory compliance, data privacy and security, and seamless customer service.
“Together with Airtel, we seek to be the financier of choice to India and enable millions to access financial services, even in remote areas,” said Rajeev Jain, managing director at Bajaj Finance, in a statement.
The companies plan to offer 10 financial products by the end of 2025, out of which two have already been piloted on the Airtel Thanks App, and another four, a including Gold Loan, a Business loan, a co-branded Insta EMI Card and a Personal Loan will be made available by March this year. The financial products will enable customers to customers to avail flexible EMI options and payment plans for buying goods over nearly 1.4 lakh partner stores across 4,000 cities.
“Airtel and Bajaj Finance, have the shared vision of empowering millions of Indians with a diverse portfolio of financial needs. The combined reach, scale and distribution strength of the two companies will serve as the cornerstone of this partnership,” said Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and MD at Bharti Airtel.
Following the development, the shares of Bajaj Finance surged 3.36 per cent to Rs 7,424.80 on the national stock exchange at 2:25. Bharti Airtel’s share prices increased marginally 0.88 per cent to Rs 1,641.80.
This is another major move announced by Bajaj Finance after it revised its five-year roadmap, BFL 3.0 in December last year, where it diversified its offerings. The NBFC has planned to expand its offerings, including UPI, pre-paid wallets, merchant OR codes, bill payments, and FASTag. The non-bank lender is also eyeing adoption of artificial intelligence to increase operational efficiency.
