New Delhi, Apr 18 (IANS): In line with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) guidelines, Airtel Payments Bank on Sunday announced that it has become the first payments bank in the country to enable Rs 2 lakh day-end balance account limit.

The bank has increased the day-end balance limit to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.

"The RBI's decision to increase the balance limit is an endorsement of the role Payments Banks have in furthering financial and digital inclusion in India. We are glad to enable this increased day-end balance limit for our customers," Anubrata Biswas, MD and CEO, Airtel Payments Bank, said in a statement.

"At Airtel Payments Bank, we have always believed that higher balance limits would enhance consumer usage of payments banks, as well as enable large sections of informal India, such as small merchants and traders, to access formal banking easily," Biswas added.

The bank deposits are insured under the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBI.

Airtel Payments Bank has 55 million engaged users and serves them through technology and a retail-based distribution network.

The bank has built a strong network of over 500,000 neighborhood banking points, which is bigger than the total number of bank branches and ATMs in India.

These neighbourhood banking points take services closer to the customer and have even reached deep rural pockets that never had access to banking services.