Airtel, SBI join hands to provide money transfer

Chennai, Mar 5 (UNI) Airtel has joined hands with State Bank of India (SBI) to launch a pilot programme, which aims to enable over 25 million Indians living abroad to remit money in the bank through their mobile phones.

''We believe that the coming together of mobile and banking industry is a giant leap in mobile commerce,'' Bharti Enterprises Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said in a release here today.

''It will revolutionise the money transfer industry with its advantages, such as reach, ease of use and lower transaction costs and provide immense benefits to 25 million Indians across the world and their families in India,'' he added.

India is the biggest recipient of overseas remittances in the world at 25 billion dollars, accounting for around ten per cent of the world market and the remittances market is growing by 20 per cent in India every year.

Meanwhile, Bharti has announced that it was supporting a Saudi Arabia led consortium with a minority stake of 15 per cent as stipulated by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

The principal role of Bharti Airtel in the alliance would be to provide comprehensive management services including negotiation with vendors, roll out of networks, brand building and distribution, setting up management processes and providing training and development under management services agreement for which it would get a management fee in addition to reimbursement of all actual costs, the release added.

UNI