India’s Payment Banks represent one of the most innovative banking experiments in global financial history, created by the Reserve Bank of India in 2015 to expand financial inclusion by leveraging existing high-reach distribution networks including telecom operators, postal networks, and payment companies to deliver basic banking to India’s unbanked population. Payment banks can accept deposits up to Rs 2 lakh per customer but cannot provide loans or credit cards, making them deposit-only institutions focused on payments, remittances, and basic savings. As of 2026, there are six operating payment banks in India: Airtel Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, Jio Payments Bank, NSDL Payments Bank, and Paytm Payments Bank whose operations were restricted by RBI in February 2024. Together these institutions serve hundreds of millions of Indians with basic banking access. Let us have a look at the top 10 payment banks in India for the year 2026.
1. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
India Post Payments Bank, established in the year 2018 and headquartered in New Delhi under the Department of Posts, is the most geographically extensive payment bank in India and arguably the most impactful financial inclusion initiative in the country’s history. IPPB leverages the extraordinary reach of India Post’s network of over 1.65 lakh post offices and 3 lakh postmen who serve every village and hamlet across India including the most remote Himalayan and tribal areas. The bank has enabled over 5 crore accounts across rural India and is the primary vehicle for Direct Benefit Transfer disbursement to the government’s beneficiary communities.
IPPB serves rural India, tribal communities, elderly pensioners, and government welfare beneficiaries with basic banking including savings accounts, money transfers, direct benefit transfers, insurance, and investment product distribution through the world’s largest postal network making formal financial services accessible to communities that no commercial bank has ever reached.
2. Airtel Payments Bank
Airtel Payments Bank, established in the year 2017 and headquartered in New Delhi as a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, is India’s most commercially successful payment bank with a strong urban and semi-urban customer base leveraging Airtel’s 350 million mobile subscriber network for distribution and customer acquisition. The bank has maintained profitability for multiple consecutive years — a rare achievement in the payment bank sector — and has been expanding its product range through partnerships for insurance and investment products. Airtel Payments Bank accounts can be opened using an existing Airtel mobile number, creating one of the lowest friction banking onboarding experiences in India.
Airtel Payments Bank serves Airtel mobile subscribers and urban digital payment users with savings accounts, cashback rewards, insurance, and investment products, and its sustainable profitability model built on float income, transaction fees, and financial products distribution makes it the most commercially viable standalone payment bank in India.
3. Fino Payments Bank
Fino Payments Bank, listed on Indian stock exchanges and established in the year 2017 as a spin-off from Fino PayTech Limited which was founded in the year 2006, is India’s only publicly listed payment bank and serves as the banking backend for millions of transactions including government welfare payments, payroll disbursements, and rural remittances. The company has a large network of banking correspondents and micro-ATMs across rural India and earns revenue primarily through transaction fees rather than float income on deposits. Fino’s listing on stock exchanges reflects its operational maturity and commercial sustainability.
Fino Payments Bank serves rural and semi-urban consumers, government welfare beneficiaries, and migrant workers with basic banking services including savings accounts, remittances, Aadhaar-enabled payment system transactions, and money withdrawals through its network of banking correspondents, and its stock exchange listing makes it the most transparent and publicly accountable payment bank in India.
4. Jio Payments Bank
Jio Payments Bank, established in the year 2018 as a subsidiary of Reliance Industries and initially launched in partnership with State Bank of India, has the potential to be India’s most powerful payment bank given the extraordinary reach of Reliance Jio’s mobile network with over 450 million subscribers. The bank has been strategically integrated with the JioMart e-commerce and JioFinance platform, creating an embedded finance ecosystem where millions of Jio users can conduct banking transactions within their everyday Jio services experience.
Jio Payments Bank serves Reliance Jio’s enormous subscriber base with basic banking services embedded within the Jio digital ecosystem, and its integration with JioMart e-commerce, JioFinance, and the broader Reliance consumer services platform positions it to become one of India’s most widely used embedded banking platforms as digital commerce adoption grows.
5. NSDL Payments Bank
NSDL Payments Bank, established in the year 2017 as an initiative of the National Securities Depository Limited and headquartered in Mumbai, is a payment bank focused on the rural and semi-urban market with a particular strength in connecting banking services with the government’s financial inclusion programs. The bank leverages NSDL’s existing infrastructure in the securities and financial services sector to provide basic banking and payment services. NSDL Payments Bank has been building its operational capabilities and customer acquisition in its target underserved markets.
NSDL Payments Bank serves underserved rural and semi-urban consumers with basic savings and payment services, and its connection to NSDL’s broader financial infrastructure gives it a unique positioning in linking basic banking services with the formal securities and investment ecosystem for customers who are entering the financial system for the first time.
6. Paytm Payments Bank (Restricted Operations)
Paytm Payments Bank, established in the year 2017 as a subsidiary of One97 Communications, was once India’s largest payment bank by customer count before the RBI imposed restrictions on accepting new deposits and top-ups in February 2024 due to compliance concerns. While its banking operations are severely restricted, Paytm’s broader ecosystem of over 172 million users and 4.5 million merchant payment terminals continues to be one of India’s most important digital financial platforms through its restructured payment and financial services partnerships.
Paytm Payments Bank’s operating restrictions have accelerated the company’s strategic pivot toward its merchant lending, insurance distribution, and payment services businesses that do not depend on the Payments Bank licence, and the broader Paytm ecosystem continues to be one of India’s most widely used digital financial platforms despite the banking regulatory challenges.
7. Reliance Retail (Business Correspondent Model)
While not a licensed payment bank, Reliance Retail’s JioMart and physical store network has effectively created one of India’s largest financial services distribution systems through its business correspondent and assisted banking model, reaching millions of consumers for basic financial transactions. The integration of payment services, insurance, and small lending products within Reliance’s retail ecosystem represents the convergence of commerce and banking that characterises the future of embedded finance in India.
Reliance Retail serves millions of Indian consumers with embedded financial services including insurance, credit, and basic payment services within its retail environment, and as India’s regulatory framework for banking-as-a-service and embedded finance matures, Reliance’s distribution infrastructure positions it as one of the most powerful financial services distributors in the country.
8. Spice Money (Spice Digital)
Spice Money, part of the Spice Digital Group and operating as a banking and financial services platform for rural India, serves as a major micro-ATM and Aadhaar-enabled payment system network that processes millions of cash withdrawal, deposit, and remittance transactions for rural consumers who cannot access physical bank branches. The platform operates through a network of neighbourhood merchants and small retailers who serve as banking correspondents, making it one of India’s most extensive last-mile banking access networks for cash-based rural communities.
Spice Money serves rural consumers who need cash access, money transfers, and basic financial services through its network of neighbourhood banking points, and represents the important class of banking correspondent and payment facilitation companies that bridge the gap between the formal banking system and India’s cash-dependent rural economy.
9. PayNearby
PayNearby, founded in the year 2016 and headquartered in Mumbai, is one of India’s largest banking and financial services distribution networks operating through a network of over 500,000 neighbourhood retail stores as banking agents providing cash withdrawal, money transfer, utility bill payment, and insurance services. PayNearby’s store network is one of the most extensive assisted banking infrastructure systems in India serving the many millions of consumers who prefer face-to-face financial service interactions over digital self-service interfaces.
PayNearby serves rural and semi-urban consumers across India with assisted banking and financial services through its vast network of neighbourhood banking points, and represents the critically important offline-assisted model of financial inclusion that complements India’s digital banking push by serving consumers who lack smartphones or digital literacy.
10. MobiKwik (Payments)
MobiKwik, founded in the year 2009 and listed on Indian stock exchanges in 2024, is an established digital payments and wallet platform that has been evolving toward a more comprehensive banking-like service offering. While not a payment bank by RBI licence, MobiKwik’s 172 million user base and extensive merchant payment network make it functionally similar to a payment bank in the services it provides to consumers. The company’s pay-later and credit features add a lending dimension that payment banks cannot offer.
MobiKwik serves individual consumers and small merchants with its digital wallet, UPI, and credit services, occupying an important position in India’s payments ecosystem as a consumer-facing financial platform that bridges the gap between basic digital payments and more comprehensive neo banking services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: What is a payment bank and what services can it offer?
A: A payment bank is a differentiated bank licensed by RBI that can accept deposits up to Rs 2 lakh per customer and provide basic banking services including savings accounts, debit cards, internet banking, mobile banking, and payment and remittance services. Payment banks cannot offer loans, credit cards, or other credit products. They earn revenue through transaction fees, float income on deposits, and distribution of third-party financial products like insurance and mutual funds.
Q: How many payment banks are currently operating in India in 2026?
A: There are six RBI-licensed payment banks in India as of 2026: Airtel Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, Jio Payments Bank, NSDL Payments Bank, and Paytm Payments Bank whose operations are restricted. Several payment bank licences were surrendered or cancelled including Vodafone M-Pesa and Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank, reducing the original eleven licensees to six active entities.
Q: Which is the most successful payment bank in India?
A: Airtel Payments Bank is generally considered India’s most commercially successful payment bank, having maintained profitability for multiple consecutive years through its transaction fee income and financial products distribution revenue. India Post Payments Bank is the most impactful from a financial inclusion perspective, serving the most remote and underserved communities through India Post’s unmatched rural network. Fino Payments Bank is the only publicly listed payment bank, reflecting its operational maturity.
Q: Why did some payment banks fail in India?
A: Several original payment bank licensees struggled due to the difficulty of building profitable businesses without the ability to lend. Payment banks earn primarily from transaction fees and float income on deposits which are insufficient to cover the high customer acquisition and operational costs without the cross-subsidy from loan interest income that traditional banks enjoy. Vodafone M-Pesa and Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank surrendered their licences as their parent companies struggled to achieve the scale needed for profitability within the payment bank framework’s constraints.
Q: Can a payment bank become a full-service commercial bank?
A: RBI has not established an automatic or straightforward pathway for payment banks to convert to full commercial bank licences. However, IRDAI and RBI have discussed frameworks for payment banks to upgrade to small finance bank licences as an intermediate step. The regulatory conversation around creating a glide path for successful payment banks to offer credit products is ongoing and could create significant opportunities for Airtel Payments Bank and IPPB to expand their product range in the medium term.