Eleven private parties were given licences to set up "payment banks" - banks which can do everything a regular bank can do - take deposits, pay bills, issue cheques and drafts, et al. The only thing they can't do is lend to you and me. Payment banks can only lend to the government and almost anybody with Rs 100 crore in his pocket can, in future, set up a payment bank, assuming they pass the RBI’s “fit and proper” norm (which basically means if you are not a crook, or someone who has cocked a snook at the regulator, you can get a licence). This means payment banks will theoretically be the safest of banks since they have only the government as borrower – and governments don’t default. In future, payment bank licences may be available on tap, and we could see even 50-100 such banks being set up. India will be fully banked over the next decade.

That payment banking is a big deal is evident from who’s got the initial set of licences – the big boys and billionaires are there. Among them: the Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries (majority owner of Network 18, which publishes Firstpost), the big telcos (Airtel, Vodafone), the National Securities Depository (which holds almost all of India’s stocks in demat form, and provides the backbone for a tax information network), PayTM (India’s biggest mobile wallet company), Tech Mahindra (one of the Top Five IT companies in India), and Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi. Billionaires wouldn’t be filling in forms at the RBI’s window if they didn’t think payment banking was the in thing, though they might prefer to become regular banks, if that were possible. Since the RBI does not want corporates in banking, they are going for the next big thing that’s available – payment bank licences.

First, and foremost, payment banks will bridge the last mile (or last 10-20 miles) between bank branches and the remote customer living in a rural hamlet. Payment banks will essentially rely on technology to reach payment services to all customers, using mobiles as the vehicle of banking. Mobiles go even where humans don’t. Physical bank branches (or bankers or ATMs) will still be needed for some functions - opening an account, depositing cash, etc - but all day-to-day payments, including peer-to-peer payments) can be done remotely. The mobile phone will become the virtual ATM and small-payments cheque-book. In less than 10 years, every Indian will have a bank account. Payment banks are the key enablers.

Second, banking costs will come down due to intense competition driven by the expected proliferation of payment banks. Currently, we pay through our noses for banking services, whether it is above-limit ATM transactions, additional cheque-books, big money transfers, maintenance of minimum balances, or draft issuance fees. These costs will come down as payment banks start offering zero-balance accounts and low-cost services. Currently, efficient private banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank make huge profits from their low-cost current and savings bank accounts, but a big chunk of this will move to payment banks, who may offer higher savings bank rates of 5-7 percent. The HDFCs mint money since they only have to compete with slothful public sector banks. Now, they will have nimbler rivals to worry about. The customer will finally be Queen.