What the Airtel-Bajaj Finance partnership means for their growth plans

Bajaj Finance and Bharti Airtel have entered into a strategic partnership to create one of India’s largest digital platforms for financial services. This collaboration is designed to leverage Airtel’s extensive distribution network and Bajaj Finance’s financial expertise to enhance last-mile financial inclusion.

Airtel, with its 375 million customers and a vast 1.2 million-strong distribution network, will progressively offer most of Bajaj Finance’s retail financial products.

These include personal loans, gold loans, business loans, and the co-branded Insta EMI card. The products will first be available through the Airtel Thanks App and later across Airtel’s physical stores nationwide.

Key Details, facts, and numbers

The partnership combines the strengths of both giants:

Source: Company reports, news articles

Bajaj Finance has already piloted two products on the Airtel Thanks App (not disclosed which ones), with four more to be introduced by March. These include Gold Loan, Business Loan, a co-branded Insta EMI Card and Personal Loan.

By the end of the year, Airtel will offer close to 10 financial products from Bajaj Finance, further solidifying its footprint in financial services. Out of 375 Mn users, Bajaj Finance is targeting 200 Mn users which are non-overlapping who fit its credit profile and product profile.

Opportunity size

The partnership is a massive opportunity for both companies:

• Airtel’s digital push: With only 1 million users currently engaged in Airtel Finance, this collaboration gives Airtel the potential to rapidly scale its financial services arm, competing with players like Jio Financial. Airtel Finance can benefit in two ways out of this, they can cross sell more financial products to its existing users as well as they can target new users through the Airtel distribution network gaining more distribution income.

• Bajaj finance’s distribution boost: Bajaj Finance gains access to Airtel’s expansive distribution network, significantly broadening its customer base and streamlining its product offerings.

• Financial inclusion: The move strengthens digital financial inclusion, enabling millions of Indians, even in remote areas, to access financial services seamlessly.

Bajaj Finance in its recent strategy plan for 2029 has highlighted that they want to acquire 100 Mn customers by leveraging technology and inorganic routes. Key targets for the company are in the table below:

Source: Bajaj Finance

This partnership is one of the steps to help the company achieve that target.

The Jio Financial playbook: A blueprint for success?

Reliance’s Jio Financial has already demonstrated how integrating financial services with a telecom network can be a game-changer. Jio Finance scaled its monthly active user base to 7.4 million within a year, leveraging Reliance Retail’s 338 million users and Jio’s 482 million telecom subscribers.

Jio Finance’s approach mirrors several successful global partnerships:

• Apple x Goldman Sachs: Offering Apple Card and BNPL services.

• SBI x Uber: Providing financial products for Uber drivers.

• ICICI Lombard x PolicyBazaar: Expanding insurance penetration.

• Zomato x InCred & NSE: Offering financial services to restaurant partners.

• Zaggle x Zepto: Offering fintech solutions to Zepto’s partners.

• Paytm x HDFC Bank: Strengthening digital payments.

• Amazon x ICICI Bank: Introducing co-branded credit cards.

The Airtel-Bajaj Finance partnership follows a similar strategy: using an existing customer base to drive rapid adoption of financial products.These partnerships highlight how digital platforms and financial institutions are increasingly collaborating to enhance financial accessibility. If executed well, Airtel Finance could be of similar size of Jio Finance.

In summary

The Airtel-Bajaj Finance partnership represents a pivotal shift in India’s digital financial services landscape. With Airtel’s deep market penetration and Bajaj Finance’s robust financial offerings, the collaboration has the potential to disrupt the NBFC sector and challenge established players like Jio Financial.

For Airtel, this partnership accelerates its push into fintech, helping it scale Airtel Finance exponentially. For Bajaj Finance, it presents an opportunity to leverage a telecom network’s reach and deepen its market share.

As digital finance in India continues to evolve, this partnership could set a new benchmark for telecom-NBFC collaborations, paving the way for more innovative financial inclusion initiatives.