Airtel Payments Bank today announced a salary account for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). The initiative is called ‘Suraksha Salary’ which is working towards supporting the small, medium businesses.
Through this account, the businesses will be able to make cashless payments, but more importantly, it will ensure a financial blanket for its employees. The benefits under the account include Hospicash Insurance and Personal Accidental insurance cover.
The lockdown brought out the uglier side of capitalism, and how the MSME workforce was hit badly. MSME employees do not have healthcare benefits or even insurance. This certainly makes the situation worse for those employees, especially during this time.
The finance minister announced a collateral-free loan worth INR. 3 lakh for MSMEs and the Cabinet committee jumped on the bandwagon and announced that it will infuse INR. 20,000 crores into the MSME sector.
The new initiative of Airtel will be available only to new bank customers as of now; later existing customers will be made part of this.
“Our research reflected how lack of protection makes the workforce susceptible to financial setbacks, particularly in case of illness. With this consumer insight, we developed the Suraksha Salary Account to enable MSMEs to offer financial protection and formal banking experience to their employees,” Anubrata Biswas, MD, and CEO, Airtel Payments Bank said.
In the case of hospitalization, the account holder will be subjected to a fixed cover of INR 400 per day for 10 days. This package also covers COVID-19. The account owner will also get a group accidental cover of INR. 1 lakh. Moreover, the account has no minimum balance condition.
The Suraksha Salary initiative comes at a crucial point in time, though it came very late. This should work towards the betterment of the MSME employees’ healthcare plans, and make them financially more equipped.
