Bharat ATM, a rural banking platform that offers banking services to small merchants and customers through its assisted banking app, on Tuesday, said it plans to bring around 20 lakh outlets in its fold by the end of the next year. Currently, it has on-boarded 4.5 lakh small merchants covering 14,645 PIN codes.

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The company has served over 20 lakh retail customers with their banking needs, Bharat ATM said in a statement. The app offers banking services, including account opening, deposits, remittances and cash withdrawals to rural masses in tie-up with local kirana stores, thereby eliminating the need to invest time and money travelling significant distances to the closest bank branch or ATM, it said.

The app allows its retail customers to open bank accounts at the neighbourhood store by just producing their Aadhaar and PAN cards and authentication using e-KYC. "Till date, Bharat ATM has helped more than 20 lakh customers to avail banking services at their doorstep or at the local kirana store with a customer repeat rate of 30 percent.

"We are planning to add around two million retail stores on Bharat ATM platform by the end of 2022," the company's founder Ram Shriram said. Using private banks' proprietary licences, it already has a network of 3.5 lakh touchpoints across the country comprising 20,000 handheld terminals (wireless ATMs) for cards, it said.