What's in store for 'India's most sincere bank'?

Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up? For now, he seems to be on save-OCL mission

However brilliant he may be in academics, if a student doesn't care about school norms and bunks classes to play cricket or watch films, he is punished. If he does this too often, despite being repeatedly reprimanded by the principal, the school typically rusticates him since it cannot afford to compromise on discipline.

The student's parents then rush to the school to appeal. They also approach those who might be able to influence the principal to revoke the order, and even go to great lengths to explain to the neighbours what has gone wrong and how the boy would be disciplined.

But what happens when a payments bank plays truant? Well, when a payments bank is being punished for "persistent" non-compliance with regulations, nowhere are its managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) to be seen. Instead, its majority stakeholder has taken up the responsibility of doing everything convincing customers to stay put, the regulator to go slow and even the finance minister to influence the regulator.

I am talking about Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL). "India's most sincere bank" (as it describes itself).

The objective of setting up such a bank is financial inclusion - to provide small savings accounts and payments/remittance services to migrant labourers, low-income households, small businesses, and other unorganised sector entities. The bank could accept current and savings accounts (up to 1 lakh initially; the amount was doubled in April 2021); issue ATM and debit cards (not credit cards), payment and remittance services; be a business correspondent for other banks; and distribute financial products such as mutual funds and insurance policies.