Telecom major Bharti Airtel and non-banking financial company (NBFC) Bajaj Finance have announced a strategic partnership to offer financial services digitally to their customers.
In a joint statement, the two companies claimed that the collaboration will pave the way for the creation of India’s largest digital platform for financial services.
Under the partnership, the telecom major will initially offer Bajaj Finance’s financial products on its Airtel Thanks App. Thereafter, the telco will also offer Bajaj Finance’s suite of 27 offerings at its retail stores.
The companies have already begun a pilot of the service. While two financial products are live on the Airtel Thanks app so far, they plan to roll out four new financial offerings on the app by March this year, including gold loans, business loans, personal loans and a co-branded “Insta EMI” card.
Thereafter, Airtel plans to offer nearly 10 financial products of Bajaj Finance by the end of 2025.
With this partnership, Airtel and Bajaj Finance will look to leverage their phygital presence to deepen penetration of financial products and services. The companies added that the deal will enable them to tap into new-to-credit customers and integrate new users with the formal financial system.
Both companies, as part of the partnership, are committed to strong regulatory compliance, data privacy and security, and seamless customer service, added the statement. The two will also leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to “enhance efficiencies and elevate customer experiences”.
“… The combined reach, scale and distribution strength of the two companies will serve as the cornerstone of this partnership and help us succeed in the marketplace. We are building Airtel Finance as a strategic asset for the group and will continue to invest in and grow the business…,” said Bharti Airtel’s vice chairman and managing director Gopal Vittal.
Commenting on the collaboration, Bajaj Finance MD Rajeev Jain said, “… Our partnership with Airtel not only leverages India’s digital infrastructure for inclusive growth but also brings together the expertise and reach of two of India’s leading and most-trusted brands. Together with Airtel, we seek to be the financier of choice to India and enable millions to access financial services, even in remote areas.”
The development comes at a time when more and more Indian conglomerates are jumping into the fintech fray to capitalise on the growing demand for online financial services. Reliance is also looking to grab a share of the fintech pie through Jio Financial Services.
Such has been the scale that fintech ventures bagged 21% of the total $12 Bn funding raised by Indian startups in 2024. In total, the sector secured $2.5 Bn last year across 162 deals.
As per an Inc42 report, the homegrown fintech ecosystem is slated to become a $2.1 Tn market opportunity by 2030.
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