Airtel payments bank ,APB), which turned profitable in the September quarter, plans to double its nationwide business correspondents (BC) network and grow revenue from cash management services in the B2B space through a combination of transactions and interest-based income. It also promotes monetization, said senior industry executive Aware.

“In the next 12 months, APB seeks to double its pan-India BC network to 1 million (from the current 0.5 million level) to achieve the required reach to service the remittance market and Aadhaar-enabled payment services business . Lakhs of potential consumers in Tier 3 and beyond markets,” an official told ET.

Analysts expect the upcoming expansion to further expand APB’s total distribution reach, which is already twice the total number of ATMs and bank branches in the country, and in turn, strengthen its leadership in the remittance market.

At press time, Airtel did not respond to ET’s queries.

airtel payments bank Turned PAT-positive in the September quarter, with a 16% sequential growth in its monthly transactional user base to 31.2 million and a 25% on-quarter jump in its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) to Rs 32,100 crore. Its revenue is close to Rs 1,000 crore on an annual basis.

Company insiders estimate that the remittance market will grow at 70% in the next few years and the Aadhaar-enabled payment services business will grow by over 45% annually over the next four years.

IIFL Securities sees strong revenue generation potential in the B2B segment through cash management services, especially since the APB rate of 0.74% is the highest in the payments banking sector. The take rate is a metric for measuring the conversion of ABP’s GMV to revenue.

Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel, recently said that “growth of e-commerce is slated to boost demand for cash management” from the telco’s payments banking arm, and that “up to $100 billion in cash monthly is digitized (at an industry level) with an estimated cash management fee of between 0.5%-1% of the collection amount”.

Airtel, however, declined to comment on the telco upgrading its payments bank license in future to a small finance bank’s license to enter the lending business and attract large deposits. Industry executives say that whenever this happens, APB will be able to more profitably use deposits from its 115 million users.

Last December, Bharti President Sunil Mittal had said that Airtel may at any time upgrade its payments bank license to a small finance bank license to enter into the lending business.