The partnership will expand the scope of India’s Aadhaar Enabled Payment System, a biometric digital payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India. As a result, digital payments and banking transactions will be more readily accessible to Indian residents, including those living in remote areas.

From now on, Wirecard retail agents in India will be supported by YES BANK’s infrastructure and will serve as customer representatives India-wide to provide essential financial services, such as cash withdrawals and deposits, bank-to-bank transfers, and balance inquiries, to customers. Millions of consumers will benefit from daily financial services, which they quickly approve with their fingerprint.

Wirecard provides consumers daily with access to affordable digital financial services such as ticketing, mobile top-up, insurance or logistics through its nation-wide retail agent network and offers hundreds of thousands of retailers the opportunity to earn extra money by driving financial inclusion in India. Earlier this year, Wirecard started a similar successful partnership of this kind and now continues to offer a wide range of digital financial services together with YES BANK.

“Financial inclusion and digital payment are core focus areas for YES BANK and we remain committed to the twin national agenda of Financial Inclusion and Digital India. Through our partnership with Wirecard, we will further proliferate AEPS-based cash withdrawal services, which serve a large part of India’s population residing in semi-urban and rural areas,” commented Mr. Ritesh Pai, Chief Digital Officer at YES BANK. “The Bank continues to take strides towards improving last mile inclusion and be at the forefront of the financial inclusion movement in India. We look forward to developing our partnership with Wirecard and offer progressive digital payment solutions across India.”

“We are delighted to partner with YES BANK and empower residents of India, especially those who live in rural areas and cannot easily access financial institutions, with the tools to manage their finances in an efficient and secure way,” added Anil Kapur, Managing Director India at Wirecard. “Our wide ranging retail agent network has once again proven to be an ideal solution for companies and industries in India seeking a nationwide service provider for their digital financial needs.”

The Aadhaar Enabled Payment System is based on the Aadhaar system, an initiative on behalf of the Government of India to issue a unique identity number for each resident with the aim of promoting social and financial inclusion, public sector delivery reforms, and managing fiscal budgets, among others. As of July 2019, more than 1.2 billion residents have been equipped with a biometric Aadhaar identification, and as a result it is considered to be one of the most reliable identity documents in India.