Bharti Airtel launches Airtel Money

Bhubaneswar, 5 March 2012: Transferring money, paying utility bills, everyday shopping and buying movie tickets – all this and more is now possible the easier way! Bharti Airtel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), today announced the pan India launch of Airtel Money – the country’s first of its kind mobile wallet service by a mobile operator. Now available across 300 key cities in India – airtel money is a fast, simple and secure service that allows its users to load cash on their mobile devices and spend it to pay utility bills and recharges, shop at 7000+ merchant outlets, transact online etc. Apart from serving as an easy alternative to cash / card payment options, airtel money is also the first mobile based service to offer customers in Odisha can now use airtel money to make payments and transfer money across the country – at anytime, anywhere.


The national availability of airtel money follows the success of service’s first phase of launch in Delhi NCR and Chennai in 2011. Commenting on the rollout, Mr. PD Sarma, CEO Kolkata, West Bengal & Odisha Telecom Circle, Bharti Airtel said, “Whether buying groceries, shopping in a mall or eating out with friends – more than 90% of India’s population relies on cash to pay for its daily needs. With changing times, this trend shifted towards the use of credit and debit cards – while money transfer continues to dependent upon the speed of remittance through methods like money orders and cheques. The national rollout of airtel money will fulfil a much required need in the marketplace for a mobile-based wallet service that provides customers with the ability to transact and transfer money at the press of a button. We are confident that our customers across Odisha will see great convenience in subscribing to airtel money – a simple and secure alternative to cash and card based transactions”.

In Odisha Airtel has already established partnerships with over 50 merchants, with numbers increasing by the day, which includes hotels, restaurants, apparels, departmental stores, electronic and mobile outlets, are now accepting payments via airtel money. What’s more customers using airtel money will be able to avail exclusive discounts and attractive offers at various merchant outlets in the market – and save money as they shop.

Airtel mobile customers can self register for airtel money Express Account by dialling 8400# from their mobile phones or sign up for the service by walking into any of the 15,000 plus airtel money outlets across the top 300 cities of India and submitting the required KYC documents.
For airtel money Power Accounts, Airtel has established merchant partnerships with over 1,800 brands across the country – this includes utility providers viz. BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. Reliance Energy, Indraprastha Gas, Tata Power Company Ltd, Maharashtra State Electricity Board, telecom (BSNL/MTNL) and insurance (LIC, Aviva, ICICI, SBI), movie theatres (PVR, DT Cinemas, Fun Cinemas, Fame INOX), organized retailers (Megamart, Univercell, Apollo Pharmacy) as well as local chemists and grocery stores who will now accept payments via airtel money, thereby ushering a new era in the world of electronic payments.

Additionally, airtel money will work as a convenient payment alternative to debit and credit cards in days to come for online transactions on popular websites like Flipkart, Yatra, Letsbuy and even www.aitel.in. What’s more – customers using airtel money will be able to avail exclusive discounts and attractive offers at various merchant outlets in the market – and save money as they shop.

In 2010, AMSL was granted the license to use the Semi Closed Wallet by the Reserve Bank of India. The company has designed a secure and robust backend system to offer India’s first mobile wallet service.
To know more about airtel money, Airtel mobile customers can dial 121 from their mobile phones or simply visit www.airtelmoney.in. In addition to the website, non-Airtel mobile customers can dial 88-00-01-21-21 for more information.

About Bharti Airtel Limited:
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading integrated telecommunication company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G & 3G mobile services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carries. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G & 3G mobile services. Bharti Airtel had over 244 million customers across its operations at the end of January 2012. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com.


For further information please contact:
Rashmi Ranjan Swain, Sutra Positive Relations, +919438295238