Instead of having traditional bank branches, a payments bank conducts business through business correspondents who work on a commission. Jio Payments Bank, a unit of Jio Financial Services Ltd, nearly quadrupled its sales network between July and September this year to nearly 200,000 business correspondents.

Market leader Airtel Payments Bank has a network of 500,000 business correspondents, which it gradually built over a five-year period between 2017 and 2021. The network has stayed at that level since.

“The payment bank’s customer base grew to about 3 million in Q2 FY26, nearly double the 1.5 million customers in Q2 FY25, and a consistent 14% growth sequentially,” Hitesh Sethia, MD & CEO – Jio Financial Services Ltd, told analysts during a post-earnings call last month.

“This growth in customer base was supported by the rapid expansion of the payment bank’s Business Correspondent, or BC network, to 2 lakh touchpoints, up from around 2,300 in Q2 FY25 and around 50,000 in Q1 FY26,” he said.

Expanding the sales network helps Jio Payments Bank widen its customer base, accept more deposits, and also serves as a customer funnel. People who use the services of Jio Payments Bank, such as money transfer, are more likely to purchase value-accretive products from the lender, helping it expand its business.

Value streams

Jio Payments Bank initiated two value-added revenue streams during the July-September quarter: Savings Pro and digital toll processing. The former allows the bank’s customers to automatically invest their idle money in overnight mutual funds, generating additional returns. The bank had deposits of ₹421 crore as of 30 September, just over double the amount for the same period last year.

Jio Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank did not respond to requests for comment.

The payments bank has also signed a contract with the Indian Highway Management Co. Ltd for digital toll processing as a FASTag acquirer bank for 12 toll plazas.

“Jio Payments Bank’s entry into the tolling ecosystem is a natural extension of its mission…mission to digitise everyday payments and build smart financial infrastructure at scale,” Sethia said in the same analyst call.

Jio Payments Bank, which commenced operations in 2018, had a network of approximately 2,300 business correspondents as of September 2024. The network surpassed 50,000 by July 2025. Then, it ballooned to a shade under 200,000 by the end of September.

To ramp up this network, Jio poached sales and distribution employees from its rivals, especially Airtel Payments Bank, to leverage their existing channels, according to two such executives who have moved companies at twice their previous salary. These on-ground sales executives were given targets of recruiting up to 5,000 business correspondents, they said. Having already recruited correspondents for their former employer, mostly Airtel Payments Bank, it was just a matter of convincing the correspondents to sign on to Jio Payments Bank’s network, too, they added. This sped up the network expansion for Jio.

Key Takeaways

Jio Payments Bank quadrupled its BC network in just three months.
Jio is poaching rival staff by offering salaries of ₹3.5 lakh/year, double the industry standard.
The bank is leveraging poached staff to quickly onboard existing agents who already work with competitors like Airtel.
The expansion supports new products like ‘Savings Pro’ (mutual funds) and FASTag toll processing.
Despite rapid growth, Jio still trails Airtel Payments Bank significantly.

Working with competition

Business correspondents don’t work exclusively with any one payment bank. They are typically small business owners running mobile repair shops, bill payment services, or making photocopies, and sign up for this work as an additional revenue stream.

“The distributor came and helped make my ID on Jio,” said Sachin Mukesh, a Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh-based business correspondent and YouTuber who signed up with Jio Payments Bank about six months ago. He has also been a correspondent for Airtel Payments Bank for approximately two years.

Another West Bengal-based BC, who has earlier worked with Airtel and NSDL payments banks, has now moved exclusively to Jio Payments Bank. Customers demand Jio because it offers more services compared to other payment banks, and it presents a better opportunity for them, he said.

Jio is still ramping up its BC network, the people cited above said. There are numerous open job postings for sales and distribution positions at Jio Payments Bank in tier III and tier IV cities across the country, offering salaries of ₹3.5 lakh per year. This is twice the industry standard for the same work, the people cited above said.

A payments bank is a specialized banking license granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost financial inclusion by providing basic banking services to the unbanked and underbanked population. Unlike traditional commercial banks, payments banks cannot offer loans or credit cards. They can accept deposits up to a maximum of ₹200,000 per customer and offer savings and current accounts, along with issuing ATM and debit cards and facilitating digital payments and remittances.

Payments banks primarily focus on low-income households, small businesses, migrant workers, and rural customers.

There are six such banks in India: India Post Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, and NSDL Payments Bank, besides Jio and Airtel.