Airtel Joins Hands with Western Union to Accelerate Real-time Global Payments


Bharti Airtel, Country’s leading telecom giant recently associated with the major money transfer brand Western Union to launch real-time payments into bank accounts in India and mobile wallets across Africa.

"The Partnership on the two flagship ideas with Western Union in India and Africa portrays Airtel's desire to shift the quality of lives of millions of people across emerging and developing markets, providing connectivity and digital empowerment," Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel, said in a statement.

He further added, "We are delighted to contribute to the development of a sound and inclusive payments ecosystem in emerging markets to spur financial inclusion and economic growth,"

In context with the collaboration, The Western Union’s money transaction will be redirected to Airtel Payment Bank customers in India in a couple of months.  This would happen into their bank accounts 24/7 through the mobile application.

IANS reported that this announcement follows the conclusion of new flagship collaborations of Western Union with two leading subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel, namely Airtel Payments Bank and Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services with a presence in 14 countries in Africa.

The report also stated that the collaboration with Airtel Africa will enable more than 15 million Airtel Money mobile wallet users in Nigeria, Uganda, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, Congo, Niger, Tchad, Rwanda and Seychelles to simply route any money transfer received from across the world into their wallets.