Airtel Payments Bank gets RBI nod to start enrolling new customers
New Delhi, July 12 : After running into rough weather due to Aadhaar-related e-KYC issues, Airtel Payments Bank on Thursday said it has received requisite approvals from the Reserve Bank of India and UIDAI to start acquiring new customers.
"Airtel Payments Bank has received requisite approvals from The Reserve Bank of India to start on-boarding new customers. Airtel Payments Bank has also been permitted by the UIDAI to resume the on-boarding of customers using Aaadhaar based e-KYC. We thank the authorities for the approvals," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
"We remain committed to the government's vision of financial inclusion and banking for all," he added.
In an interview to IANS last week, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said: "The bank had started off very well, but we got into regulatory issues. We are working very closely with authorities (RBI and UIDAI) and hopefully this will be back to business soon and start acquiring customers. Right now have 30 million customers in the bank and the wallet. Operation is continuing for existing customers, but we are not acquiring new customers."
Airtel Payments Bank on May 24, 2018 announced the appointment of Anubrata Biswas as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment comes five months after former CEO and MD Shashi Arora stepped down in December.
The RBI on March 9 slapped a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Airtel Payments Bank Limited for violating KYC norms, an official statement said here.
"The Reserve Bank of India has imposed, on March 7, 2018, a monetary penalty of Rs 50 million on Airtel Payments Bank Limited for contravening the 'Operating Guidelines for Payments Banks' and directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms," the RBI statement had said.
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JPC on Waqf Bill postpones study tour to Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow as members busy in election
Bhubaneswar, Nov 11: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 has postponed its study tour to Kolkata Patna, and Lucknow as many of its members are busy in elections, the panel chief said on Monday.
The JPC has completed its first phase of study tour to states like Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Gujarat to hear the versions of stakeholders on the Waqf Amendment Bill.
Opposition members boycotted the second phase tour, which started on November 9 and was scheduled to end on November 14. The panel held its meetings at Guwahati on Saturday and here on Monday.
“Many of my colleagues informed us that they have engagements in state elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Besides, by-polls are there in many states. So, they were not able to attend the meeting. On their request, I have decided to postpone the study tour,” JPC's Chairman Jagdambika Pal said here.
He said the study tour to Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow will be rescheduled.
“We wish that all members of the panel should participate in the deliberations,” he added.
He said that the JPC had a ‘very successful’ meeting in Bhubaneswar on Monday and also in Guwahati two days ago.
During the day, the JPC held discussions with representatives from the Odisha government, state minority commission, state Waqf board, senior advocates, social activists and other stakeholders from the state for more than eight hours, Pal said.
"The stakeholders have given their views and opinions on the proposed Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Our Joint Parliamentary Committee will examine the views and incorporate the contents in its report", he told media persons earlier in the day.
Pal said it is the responsibility of the JPC to hear the stakeholders of Odisha and it is doing so.
"Whether someone has joined or not, it doesn't make any difference," he said when asked about the absence of the opposition members in the meeting.
The committee will submit its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker by the last working day of the upcoming winter session of the Parliament, he said.
The opposition members of the JPC had decided to boycott this tour, alleging that the chairperson was acting arbitrarily and their request to defer the trip was unheeded.
Since the formation of the JPC in August this year, the panel has held discussions with different stakeholders for over 100 hours in 25 formal sittings in New Delhi only, said Dilip Saikia, a member of the JPC.
"We have taken views and suggestions from different stakeholders including waqf boards, minority commissions and Muslim institutions/organisations," he said.
The MP said the panel has completed the first phase of the tour to various states including Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. However, the opposition members have boycotted the second phase tour starting from Guwahati on Saturday, which is "unfortunate", Saikia said.
"The waqf boards need to be accountable for proper management of its properties, to empower the poor Muslims and to give its benefits to marginal sections of society," he said.
Another member of the panel, Aparajita Sarangi, said, "About 38 lakh acres of land is under the control of Waqf boards in India. We need to rectify the governance system and administration."
Sarangi, the Bhubaneswar MP, said that representatives from 16 organisations have participated in today’s meeting. Many individuals have also submitted their views before the panel.
Prior to Bhubaneswar, the panel visited other major cities, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Guwahati, where discussions covered a range of issues surrounding Waqf property management and proposed amendments to the Wakf Act, 1995.
