Airtel Payments Bank on redefining secure banking with a Safe Second Account

Mint

04-08-2025

On the podcast, Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO at Airtel Payments Bank, spoke about the bank's focus on safeguarding digital transactions, and how this new offering, along with existing cutting-edge AI tools and user-centric features, is set to redefine financial safety in India.
The rise of digital-only banking in India
Digital banking has revolutionised how individuals manage their finances, offering convenience and accessibility. However, the surge in cyber fraud has created a barrier to full adoption. He spoke about the distinction between traditional universal banks and digital-only banks, stating that the latter are 'tech-first, have no branches, and are able to translate the benefits of technology to offer better consumer experiences'.
India has taken the lead on offering a robust digital public infrastructure, including Aadhaar and UPI, which has enabled payment banks to operate entirely digitally. 'Payment banks across the country broadly open one in 6-8 bank accounts in the country today, every month. Airtel Payments Bank in particular, opens one in 10 bank accounts in the country,' he said.
Unbundling payments and accounts
India has witnessed a boom in digital payments and now 90 per cent of transactions are happening outside the traditional banking framework, primarily through third-party apps. This 'unbundling' of payments has made them frictionless, but it has also made fraud easier. Similarly, the ease of opening bank accounts has led to a similar unbundling, allowing consumers to use different accounts for different purposes – savings, investments or every day payments.
This shift has given rise to a need for a 'Safe Second Account',particularly the demand for a secure account for daily digital transactions, such as bill payments, online purchases, or QR code payments. This allows the main bank account to stay unexposed and therefore safe from frauds. 'Airtel Payments Bank offers the best value account in the country. There is no minimum balance, and bank accounts are open in literally three minutes, fully digitally through the mobile banking app,' he said.
Closing the digital divide
Smartphone adoption and access to mobile data has sparked a mobile revolution of sorts in India, and this has aided in the adoption of digital banking as well. But, Anubrata felt that there is still a wide digital divide that can be bridged.
'You have got 950 million or a billion smartphones in play, but there are around 750 million unique smartphone users. If I am generous, there are 400 to 450 million unique monthly digital payers in India, which means there is a gap of 300 million people who are digital but not paying. The real big opportunity for India and Indian banks is figuring out how to bridge this digital divide,' he said.
This can be done with a combination of studying user behaviour, understanding unit economics and understanding how to move people up the ladder of persuasion. At Airtel Payments Bank, the safe second account can address frauds with low entry minimum balance barriers lends accessibility. The account can be opened by any Indian, whether from Assam or Meghalaya, or a gig worker or housewife, making it ubiquitous.
'I must credit the public policy framework, the government and all regulators, for really moving in unison to create this. I call this the single biggest public policy experiment in the history of the world, happening at scale today,' he said.
A multi-layered approach to combat cyber fraud
As technology is evolving from emails to smartphone screens for communication, the nature of digital frauds are also changing, and perhaps becoming more intense. 'The types of frauds are evolving, but the underlying theme remains that of significant psychological persuasion, which is that you force the victim to believe that there is time pressure, psychological stress, and an element of social withdrawal,' he said.
Airtel Payments Bank employs a three-pronged strategy to combat these threats. First, the payment bank account itself has a ₹ 2 lakh limit and is a zero-balance account, offering safety by design. Moreover, the bank has built numerous features, such as the ability to 'put the account to sleep with a single click', making it impossible to conduct transactions. Users can also set specific limits per channel or block their debit cards and internet banking services.
It also deploys machine learning models to differentiate good customer behaviour versus bad. These models, he said, analyse a vast set of…variables, including device ID, transaction patterns, location, and velocity, to generate alerts and temporarily block accounts. Customers can then authenticate themselves using facial recognition on the app to resume transactions.
'It offers a more than reasonable degree of safety given the fact that this is not the primary account for all the money of the customer. It's more a second transaction account with a little bit of money for the customer's daily payment needs. To give you a sense of this, 77 per cent of urban consumers who are opening accounts today with us are using it for keeping his daily payment statement away and for his daily payment needs,' he further added.
Airtel's commitment to digital security
The discussion progressed to brand Airtel's broader commitment to digital security, which extends beyond safe banking. 'Airtel has been at the forefront of digital security. Airtel as a brand has been driving anti-spam… It used cutting edge AI tools to actually block spam calls. It then came up with a very leading-edge AI campaign to block spam links, which is now running. So, this is very much in the stable of what Airtel is really trying to do,' he said.
The brand has also invested into a product roadmap deeply embedded with AI for enhanced safety and security. Last year, Airtel launched a 'Safe Banking' section within its app, which now boasts of being the third largest mobile banking app in India. This section allows consumers to get a safety score and check factors like VPN usage or Wi-Fi security.
'I am happy to share with you that we are going to launch a cyber insurance bundle in that safety page, which basically means that the consumer will be able to actually purchase a small cyber insurance plan to protect himself from any fraudster on his account for a nominal price,' he said. This initiative further solidifies Airtel Payments Bank's leadership in secure digital banking.
Catering to diverse user needs
Airtel Payments Bank's customer acquisition strategy has reportedly been driven largely by the customer. Initially, Airtel discovered a need in rural India, where the government's direct benefit transfers spurred demand for banking services close to residents. 'Today, we are the largest bank close to villages in the country, by far,' he said.
More recently, the demand for a second account in urban areas for digital payments led to the creation of the 'Safe Second Account' concept. Another 'very emerging use case' highlighted by Anubrata is the aspiring gig economy worker relocating from a village to make it big in a Metro city. He cited the example of a Zomato delivery worker who earns ₹ 12,000-14,000 and needs quick access to an accessible bank account to receive credit.
'Today, we are the largest gig worker bank account supplier in the country. It is easy to open, and he can get a credit very easily. This has become another dominant use case for the bank again, because it has zero balance, no entry barriers, no paperwork and using the digital public infrastructure,' he explained.
The future of digital banking
Looking ahead, he drew parallels with developed countries where large digital-only banks are prominent. He expressed his belief that 'India needs their own list of digital only mobile first banks, and it would not be impractical to think that Airtel Payments Bank should be first and foremost in that list.'
On the innovation front, Airtel Payments Bank is committed to 'exploding' the category of safety plans, with significant investments in product innovation, marketing, and category creation over the next 12-18 months in urban India. In rural India, the focus will remain on deepening their services.
In another move from Airtel aimed at bolstering digital security, Airtel Payments Bank is set to launch an enhanced Cyber Insurance Bundle for all its users within the next two months. This key announcement was made by Anubrata Biswas, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airtel Payments Bank, in a recent episode ofMint Techcetra. The move underscores the bank's proactive stance in safeguarding digital transactions amidst growing concerns of cyber frauds.
Beyond the 'Safe Second Account', Airtel Payments Bank is also venturing into urban transit, where a future with interoperable urban transit is being envisioned. 'We are actually India's largest now urban Metro infrastructure providers. We are 66 per cent of India's Metro Payment processors. So, anybody tapping a NCMC card on a metro, two thirds of them pass through our payment stack. And in the metro, two thirds of NCMC cards would be ours. That is going to be a very large emerging category in India over the next two to three years,' he said.
Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Mint.