Stellapps, a leading dairy-tech startup, has joined hands with Airtel Payments Bank to enable cashless payment transfers to small dairy farmers and contribute to digital financial inclusion in the country.
Stellapps offers holistic financial management programs across the dairy value chain, with special programs designed to improve financial inclusion for dairy farmers through its mooPay FinTech Platform. Stellapps has been closely working with dairies and their milk collection centers to enable direct payments to the bank account of the dairy farmers. However, a significant challenge for farmers has been the long travel to reach the nearest ATM or bank branch for withdrawing the payments.
Airtel Payments Bank will now onboard the new partner milk collection centers of Stellapps as banking points. With milk collection centers operating as a banking point, farmers and other residents in the neighborhood will no longer have to travel long distances. Through these banking points, they will be able to open a bank account, withdraw and deposit cash, earn interest on savings, access Aadhaar Enabled Payments, get government pension schemes, and make bill payments.
Onboarding of the centers as banking points will happen in a phased manner. Through this collaboration, both entities aim to provide easy access to formal banking services to over one million small dairy farmers from around the country.
The partner ecosystem has been piloted in Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi & Kanpur) and Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior). Over 120 milk collection centers are now also operating as Banking Points.
mooPay enabled milk collection centers not only enable FinTech and value-added service delivery to farmers but also enable access to a wide range of ecosystem partnerships to assist in farm improvement, animal health care, and nutrition services that help them improve animal productivity, quality of milk, and thus income.
Speaking on the partnership, Rahul Mallick, CEO – Stellapps FinTech and Value Added Services says, “We are very excited to partner with Airtel Payments Bank as it will strengthen our own service offering, help over one million dairy farmers with their banking needs and drive financial inclusion in the rural economy. Effectively financial inclusion and prosperity goes hand in hand. Stellapps through its network and partner dairies is enabling payments, credit and insurance directly to farmers and Airtel Payments Bank’s assistance will provide products and services that have the potential to further increase farmer productivity and provide financial opportunities for them to further innovate and prosper. ”
Mr. Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, Chief Operating Officer, Airtel Payments Bank, said, “We are delighted to partner with Stellapps to enable cashless payment transfers for the small dairy farmers. Direct payments help farmers to be financially independent. Our unique and extensive distribution network allows us to offer the benefits of formal banking to these farmers. The initial success of this initiative has encouraged us to expand it nationally. This is in line with our stated philosophy of financial inclusion for all.”
About Stellapps
Stellapps is a farm to consumer dairy digitization service provider, improving productivity, quality and ensuring end-to-end traceability across the dairy supply chain. It leverages advanced analytics and artificial intelligence through its full-stack IoT platform to enable dairy ecosystem partnerships with financial & insurance institutions, veterinary services, cattle nutrition providers etc. to drive significant value for smallholder farmers and all stakeholders in the dairy value chain. Through its customer-base which includes all major private & co-operative dairies, Stellapps currently digitizes over 13 million litres of milk worth USD 3.4 million each day and directly impacts 2.7 million dairy farmers in over 35,000 Indian villages across India.
About Airtel Payments Bank
Airtel Payments Bank is India’s first Payments Bank that launched in January 2017, now boasts of over 55 million engaged users and over 500,000 banking points across the country. In addition to having a presence in all 29 states of India, Airtel Payments Bank also has an app for Android and iOS users to make banking easier for its rural and urban customers. Airtel Payments Bank aims to take digital banking services to the doorstep of every Indian, particularly in unbanked rural areas, and contribute to the Government’s vision of Digital India and Financial Inclusion.
Disclaimer: Bharti Airtel Limited is proposing, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, a rights issue of its Equity Shares, and intends to file a letter of offer with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited.
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Source : Press Release by Stellapps Sep 29 2021