Mumbai: Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB), has partnered with Airpay Payment Services to enable UPI payments across the bank’s entire network of villages, district banks, and branches across Maharashtra.
This network, belonging to India’s largest co-operative bank, handles an annual business volume of Rs 62,000 crore, a significant share of which is expected to shift to digital transactions.
The rollout covers 21,000+ Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), 31 District Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs), and 55 MSCB branches across the state. UPI payments are now available across this network at no additional cost to merchants.
Cooperative banks have historically been the primary financial touchpoint for rural India. The move comes as NABARD and RBI push cooperative banks to digitise.
This partnership extends India’s digital payments network to farmers, traders, and cooperative members across Maharashtra, many of whom are transacting digitally for the first time.
In 2024, NABARD Chairman Shaji KV noted significant opportunities for fintech companies to partner with regional rural and cooperative banks to strengthen the digital ecosystem. The Airpay-MSCB partnership represents one of the first large-scale implementations supporting this vision.
The rollout aligns with the Government of India’s agenda under the Ministry of Cooperation to digitise the cooperative sector and fully complies with RBI guidelines on digital payments and KYC requirements.
“The Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd. has consistently been the backbone of Maharashtra’s rural and agricultural economic growth through the three-tier credit cooperative structure since 1911,” said Dilip Dighe, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd.
“This partnership sets a national template for how cooperative banks can modernise at speed and scale,” said Kunal Jhunjhunwala, Founder, airpay Payment Services.
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