The Airtel Payments Bank

@the_thinker Here are the things I know: 1.So far these Payments Bank- Airtel and today newly launched Paytm Bank cannot provide loans. However, I did not ask them about passbook and cheque book, but I think they might be providing these on demand, but charges might apply. 2.Have not thought of this scenario- may be they will start sending alerts, or the day the balance crosses Rs.1 Lakhs, they will ask us to shift the excess money elsewhere. I think the main reason of 1 Lakh limit is to prevent more of black money being shifted here, and also because these banks are meant to be ones with limited powers and not full-fledged banks. 3.So far I know that the Mobile Number will be the account number- so if mobile number changes(Not sim as such- as we can get duplicate sim also), then the account number will change. 4.I do not think Airtel will have the Home branch concept. But even with ICICI, I have not faced much problem with services as my branch is in a place far from both my home and office and I rarely go there. I visit nearby branches for any services if needed. 5.Hmmm..... I think we can call them to block- but this is something I will have to clarify from them. But I have to use a M-Pin for transactions, and unless I have very clearly written that Pin somewhere in my phone, and without password protection, I think I will get time to get my account blocked. And yes some valid points which I will have to confirm from the customer care.

@garymarsh6 the interest rates for savings bank accounts in India have been 3.5 to 4% for most of the banks since many years and in a way our central banker- RBI does not lets them drop below this value. However, the interest rates on longer term deposits- Fixed (FD) and Recurring(RD) have been adjuted at a lower value recently. Earlier these varied from 7.75% to even 9.25% for some senior citizens scheme. However then the inflation rate was higher- 7 to 8% overall and more than 10/12% on Food items. Now inflation has come down- around 4 to 5%, food inflation is also lower, so deposit rates have also come down to between 6.25% to 8% on FD and RD. Also, Home loan and car loan rates have also come down. Normally the rates go up and down, based on inflation and some Intra Bank rates like CRR(Credit Reserve Ratio) and more. In US, UK, Japan and some other European countries, inflation has been around 0% since last many years. Japan, in fact had deflation for many years. Deflation is very bad as it means the finished products values are going down, and this makes jobs redundant and massive joblessness. Some inflation is necessary but high inflation as prevalent in many Asian and South American countries(some faced Hyper-Inflation around 20% or more) is bad. So in many developed nations, interest rates hover around 0%. Sorry for this dose of economics, but sometimes I do relish talking on this topic.

@the_thinker great economics- I wanted to illustrate that some inflation is better than deflation or even zero inflation as it hinders employment generation.

@the_thinker requoting what I said " Some inflation is necessary but high inflation as prevalent in many Asian and South American countries(some faced Hyper-Inflation around 20% or more) is bad " So I am not promoting high inflation.

@just4him yes it has many benefits and is flexible too.

But you will have to come and settle in India to open and use it.

While paytm bank will be more like a conventional bank and will have ATMs so far Airtel Bank has not talked about ATMs.