India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and Airtel Launches WhatsApp Banking Services

Empower customers pan-India to access banking services on their mobile phones in just a few clicks 

Delivered on Airtel IQ, the messaging solution will augment the Govt.’s Digital India mission by enabling IPPB  customers across the country to seamlessly connect with their bank on WhatsApp 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), in collaboration with Airtel, announced the launch of WhatsApp Banking Services for IPPB customers in New Delhi on Friday, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.

The newly launched IPPB WhatsApp Banking channel will enable IPPB customers to seamlessly connect with the bank on WhatsApp and effortlessly avail a host of banking services, including doorstep service request, locating nearest Post Office and much more. In line with the ambition of the Government to bring digital and financial inclusion to citizens in their language, the Airtel – IPPB WhatsApp Banking solution is also working on to build multi-language support, enabling added convenience to customers, especially to those in the rural parts of the country to access banking services in their preferred language.

Airtel has been working with IPPB to deliver as many as 250 million messages per month to the bank’s customers many of whom are located in mofussil towns and tier 2,3 cities. The addition of the WhatsApp messaging will add to customer’s accessibility to connect with the bank on their fingertips, furthering Digital India mission of the Government, as part of which IPPB has been working tirelessly to deliver banking services in the rural pockets of the country.

Shri Gursharan Rai Bansal, CGM & CSMO – India Post Payments Bank said, “We are delighted to work with Bharti Airtel as our partner in driving digital and financial inclusion in India. We believe that financial services driven by technology have great potential and can go a long way in ensuring that the best financial products reach the farthest corners of the country."

Shri Abhishek Biswal, Business Head - Airtel IQ said, “Airtel IQ is a robust, intuitive and secure cloud communication suite. With the addition of WhatsApp messaging to the existing SMS and voice communication that we offer to India Post Payments Bank customers, we will further enable a two-way communication between the bank and their customers. We are delighted to continue our association with IPPB to contribute significantly in making banking services more accessible to tier2,3 cities in the country. We promise to continue delivering customer centric solutions that offer greater convenience to customers."

The IPPB and Airtel IQ are working towards further integrating a LIVE interactive customer support agent into the WhatsApp solution which will enable customers to access 24X7 support and get quick resolutions for their queries.

Bengaluru Startup Walrus launches India's 1st Personalized Debit Card for Teens

With an aim to help teenagers and young adults become financially smart at an early age as well as provide them banking solutions, fintech company Walrus today announces the launch of Signature Prepaid Debit Cards for teenagers. The unique card allows users to customize their signature which later on gets printed on the card. Walrus becomes India’s first Neobank to introduce this special feature in a card. 

Issued by RBL Bank, this card is a Prepaid Card powered by Mastercard and can be used at any retail store in their neighborhood and for making online purchases at merchants like Flipkart, Amazon, etc. With these personalized cards, the users will be able to track their transactions and also temporarily lock their cards from the Walrus app when not in use or block it if it gets misplaced. The Signature card has also been enabled with features like Swipe-to-Pay to ensure faster and secure transactions.

Commenting on the launch, Bhagaban Behera, Co-Founder, and CEO of Walrus said,“We believe that every teenager is unique and has unique aspirations, and therefore it’s important to give them a card which they can personalize to their identity. Walrus Signature Card is an effort from Walrus to make Gen-Z smart with money in a cool way.”

In the present scenario, teens are forced to use cash which has a lot of hassles and is unsafe due to COVID. With an increase in Digital payments, Walrus is bridging the gap by including teenagers in a financial inclusion drive. Here they can use Walrus to load money seamlessly and use it at the merchants of their choice. Additionally, the neobank has also given them the leverage to customize their cards in terms of designing it along with adding their signatures, thus providing them ownership of the same.

For the Signature Card, Walrus has collaborated with fintech company Zeta and IDEMIA, the global leader in augmented identity and leading payment cards technology company. Walrus is amongst the first few Asian neobanks to be part of IDEMIA’s Fintech Accelerator Program.

Murali Nair, President, Banking at Zeta said, “The banking and fintech sector has been a major focus for Zeta and we are privileged to power Walrus' innovative cards for teens with innovative features like Super PIN, Card Controls and Swipe-to-Pay. As a company, Zeta is constantly innovating and introducing new products to simplify and secure digital payments across platforms. This association with Walrus is a great opportunity for Zeta to help create a versatile platform to enable neobanking more accessible for Gen-Z customers.”

Amit Kakatikar, Region Head – Payment Business at IDEMIA said, “As the first signature card designed for Teenagers in India, it is a solid affirmation of Walrus’ commitment and understanding of the needs and desires of this important customer segment. IDEMIA is thrilled to be a part of this unique personalised payment card product offering. It reaffirms our strategic focus on supporting the rapidly evolving Fintechs and neobanking ecosystem through our Fintech Accelerator Program.”

Additionally, Walrus has also introduced gamified features to help teens get smarter with money with concepts like budgeting , creating savings goals etc. Walrus users also get access to ‘Club Walrus’ which is a network for teenagers for networking amongst themselves and to explore interesting topics like entrepreneurship, building products, digital marketing from industry experts.

About Walrus

Founded in 2019 by Bhagaban Behera (CEO), Sriharsha Setty (CTO), and Nakul Kelkar (COO), Walrus is a modern-day digital-only banking platform for teenagers. It was created to provide banking facilities to teenagers and make them financially sound. The team comes with a collective experience of 40 years in leadership roles at various startups and MNCs. Walrus recently raised funding from Better Capital and reputed angel investors like Raveen Sastry [ Cofounder, Myntra ], Raghunandan G [ Ex - CEO, Taxi4Sure ]