Airpay’s partnership with Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank is set to revolutionise rural Maharashtra’s economy by enabling widespread UPI-based digital payments, fostering financial inclusion and empowering local farmers and merchants.
Key Points
- Airpay partners with MSCB to enable UPI-based digital payments across MSCB’s network, targeting rural Maharashtra.
- The initiative will cover over 21,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), bringing QR-based UPI payment acceptance to farmers and small merchants.
- MSCB aims for 11-15 crore digital transactions annually, projecting business volumes of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore through digital channels.
- The partnership aligns with the government’s push to digitise the cooperative sector and complies with RBI guidelines on digital payments.
- This collaboration aims to integrate village-level societies into the national digital payments grid, enhancing financial inclusion and participation in the digital economy.
Airpay Payment Services on Friday said it has partnered with Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) to enable UPI-based digital payments across the lender’s network in the state to accelerate financial inclusion in rural areas.
The rollout will cover over 21,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), 31 District Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs), and 55 MSCB branches, bringing QR-based UPI payment acceptance to farmers, traders and small merchants at no additional cost, the two entities said in a statement.
MSCB, regarded as the largest state cooperative bank in India, currently handles an annual business volume of about Rs 62,000 crore, a significant share of which is expected to shift to digital transactions.
The partnership comes amid a broader push by regulators and institutions, such as NABARD and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to digitise cooperative banks.
Statements on the Partnership
“We are proud to power Maharashtra’s apex cooperative bank with a UPI acquiring stack that reaches 21,214 village-level societies. Thousands of grassroots micro-merchants and unorganised retail merchants will now access a seamless digital banking experience comparable to that offered by leading private sector banks,” Kunal Jhunjhunwala, founder, Airpay Payment Services, said.
MSCB Chairman Vidyadhar Anaskar described the initiative as a step towards integrating over 21,000 village-level societies into the national digital payments grid, positioning the cooperative network as a key player in the digital economy.
The bank is targeting 11-15 crore digital transactions annually, with projected business volumes of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore through digital channels, bringing its scale closer to that of a mid-sized public sector bank.
The rollout is aligned with the government’s push to digitise the cooperative sector under the Ministry of Cooperation and complies with RBI guidelines on digital payments and KYC norms.
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