Airtel Payments Bank Looking to Break-Even in FY22; Sees Rise in Volume

Airtel Payments Bank reported that it has seen a surge in business volumes in FY21. The company said that lockdown curbs and migrants heading back to villages spurred new accounts as well as transactions.

The company has therefore said that it will seek a break-even this fiscal. A top official said that there are few factors that will drive the break-even this fiscal. These included growth in revenues and scale of operations, and higher realisation per user from cross selling products.

Airtel Payments Bank on the Up

The company said that the pandemic and subsequent lockdown curbs caused a rise in customers. It said that it saw a strong traction for its diversified product offerings. A senior company official, who did not wish to be named, said Airtel Payments Bank is "confident" of a break-even this year, having reached the "right level of scale" with its large base of users.

The official also said that the company has build an adequate infrastructure. Also, they said that it has the investment backing in technology to serve consumers. Therefore, Airtel expects limited fixed costs and incremental investments. What's more, the company has managed to reach 55 million users, and has halved its Q4 losses from the previous fiscal.

Speaking of which, it reported a net loss of around ₹420 crore for FY21. Incidentally, Q4 losses stood at around ₹70 crore. Also, in terms of revenue, the company managed to register almost a third's rise; it reached ₹627 crore for FY21 from ₹474 crore in previous fiscal. The bank has one of the largest retail networks with around half a million neighbourhood banking points. Right now, it serves a sixth of India's villages.

Recently, the bank had announced that it will give its customers an interest rate of 6% per annum. This offer was applicable for customer who had a savings account deposit of over ₹1 lakh. The interest rate is at 2.5% per annum for a deposit up to Rs 1 lakh.