Truth, Dare and Win: Airtel Banks on 'Being' Second

There’s something irresistibly powerful about being first. The first-benchers, the first crush, the first love, the first job, the first milestone…firsts don’t fade. They linger.

Bharti Airtel knows that feeling intimately.

In November 2016, it became the first payments bank in the country, launching a pilot in Rajasthan. Months later, in 2017, it wasn’t just another entrant. It was the first to offer fully-digital and paperless banking.

And once you taste ‘first,’ you want more. This is what Airtel Payments Bank did. It aspired to be the first choice for millions who had never held a bank account. It became the first door the unbanked walked through. It became the first step in their financial journey. And it became the first weapon in their fight for true inclusion.

Bharti Airtel knows how it feels to lead from the front.

Fast forward to November 2025.

CONTRARIAN STAND & DEEPER TRUTH

Nine years after rolling out the first payments bank in India, Airtel Payments Bank has claimed yet another first—one that surprises everyone. It has become the only bank to openly declare that it aspires to be the second bank account of the consumers. Not the first. The second—by design, strategy, and choice. “At Airtel Payments Bank, our business truth is blunt and simple,” it underlined in its latest print commercial. “We want to be your second bank account. Not your first,” it underscored in the campaign titled ‘when second comes first.’

Though embracing ‘second choice’ is a bold first move, marketing and branding experts reckon that the campaign message is anchored in three powerful consumer emotions: fraud, fear and safety.

There are three ways to make people buy a product or a service. First is by underlining the functional value. On this count, there is nothing much that Airtel Payments Bank can do. Why? Two reasons for this. First, banks are banks. Their main job is to lend. And all of them lend, except payments banks. Moreover, most of the existing account holders don’t have a compelling reason to switch.

A bank account is a sticky proposition because unlike ecommerce or delivery platforms that can sway the buying behaviour of the users, people don’t change banks because of discounts or extra rate of interest. “So, the functionality of Airtel Payments Bank can’t lure new or existing buyers, especially in the top cities,” reckons Ashita Aggarwal, professor of marketing at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.

Second bait to make people buy is to make them feel special. An account in a top-notch MNC or an exclusive account in a bank becomes the flaunt value. The third way to make people buy is to instil a sense of positive ‘fear’ in them. Take, for instance, the ploy used by some of the insurance companies to sell term insurance. “What happens to your family after you” is a compelling emotional pitch to hook buyers. And this works.

FRAUD, SAFETY & FEAR

Airtel Payments Bank smartly identified its hook: fraud, fear and safety. Examine their pitch. “We want you to keep some of your money with us. Not all of it,” implores the commercial. Reason? By being the second bank account--and using it for daily spends—the user can safeguard the main account from the dangers of fraud.

Bingo! Fraud is a potent and legitimate weapon. Sample this. Banking fraud has surged dramatically, with the RBI reporting a nearly eight-fold jump in value during the first half of the FY25 compared to the same period in 2024, according to a recent report by DataLEADS, a media and technology company. Alarming? Wait, there is more. The share of private sector banks in total fraud incidents in 2024-25 stood at a staggering 60%. The amount siphoned off by cybercriminals from the Indian market and people in 2024 reportedly was Rs 22,845.73 crore, a 206% jump over 2023.

What, though, makes the alarm bells ring louder is another set of disturbing data. Indians are estimated to lose Rs 1.2 lakh crore to online frauds in 2025.

The fear of losing your hard-earned money can trigger a change in behaviour: open a second bank account! “This is the space smartly identified by Airtel Payments Bank,” says Aggarwal, adding that the brand already has the trust of millions of its network users. “That trust, along with the fear, can drive consumers to open a second account,” she adds.

Airtel Payments Bank, meanwhile, reckons that the campaign was not born out of fear or limitations. The campaign was conceived from a deep understanding of customers’ evolving needs in digital banking and payments. “It took us almost a year to arrive at the campaign, and it was never about limitations,” says Pooja Sablok, chief marketing officer at Airtel Payments Bank. Payments bank model, she underlines, is created to serve diverse banking needs of customers across urban to deep rural pockets.

What helped in garnering rich consumer insight was the pole position of Airtel as the biggest telecom network player in the country. “We are deeply involved in our customers’ everyday transactions and understand that what they value most is security without any complications or lengthy processes,” she says. With over 750 million smartphone users and nearly a billion internet users, India has seen rapid uptake in bank accounts. Yet, modest incomes make even small financial losses hard to bear, leading to deep caution especially with digital payments, reckons Sablok.

COMPELLING NEED & UNTAPPED SPACE

The data and research highlighted the writing on the wall. “Our research reflects an innate consumer fear of losing hard-earned savings due to a single mistake, prompting many urban Indians to seek a second bank account dedicated to digital transactions,” she reckons, adding that despite a compelling need, the space has remained largely untapped and under-acknowledged. “We saw an opportunity to acknowledge this consumer truth and lead the creation of a new category of safe second account,” she says.

For the creative agency, on the other hand, the task was simple yet challenging. Pallavi Chakravarti, founder and CCO of Fundamental, explains. When customer acquisition and behaviour change is on the agenda for a brand in a super cluttered category, briefs aren’t neat and clean word documents.

“They are intense conversations where thoughts are exchanged, shot down and built upon until there is consensus about the best way forward,” she says. Emergence of ‘safety’ and ‘second account’ as strategic pegs helped in formulating a two-pronged strategy. First was protecting consumers from exposing their big bucks to fraud. Second was making Airtel Payments Bank a household name that people could use on a daily basis. The tagline “humein aapke paise nahi, aapki safety chahiye” (we don’t want your money. We want your safety) wasn’t born out of creative word-smithing or an attempt to grandstand. “It is the brand’s belief captured in an emphatic, lucid, no-nonsense manner,” she adds.  

Now, the million-dollar question is: Can the gambit pay off? Will it help Airtel Payments Bank in wooing more customers? Can the perceived limitation of not being the first-choice work? Can this actually win customers?

Sablok believes it can.

The CMO of Airtel Payments Bank first acknowledges the tough task. The biggest challenge, she underlines, for any digital-first bank lies in balancing speed, simplicity, and security, especially as frauds become more sophisticated. Now, challenges give birth to opportunities. “A big one is helping customers insulate their main savings through a safe second account,” she says. In urban markets, where digital transactions are rapidly growing, the safe second account provides a dedicated space for daily spends, separating them from core savings.

In rural markets too there is a pressing need. In tier III and beyond, the need for low-ticket credit remains largely unmet. Millions of small merchants, gig workers, and rural consumers seek access to affordable, short-term credit to manage their livelihoods. “Payments Banks, with their deep reach and digital infrastructure, are ideally positioned to serve this need,” reckons Sablok, adding that if payments banks are allowed to offer small-ticket loans, they can drive financial inclusion.

Truth be told, Airtel Payments Bank is playing its cards well to be the first in the ‘second-choice’ game. And ‘truth be told,’ the bank signed off its campaign with a line that’s refreshingly honest: “The more you bank your faith in us, the richer we become.”