Mumbai, Nov. 25 -- Jio Payments Bank Ltd is aggressively expanding its sales network to catch up with market leader Airtel Payments Bank, with the aim of using this wider reach to acquire customers for its more profitable financial products. Instead of having traditional bank branches, a payments bank conducts business through business correspondents who work on a commission. Jio Payments Bank, a unit of Jio Financial Services Ltd, nearly quadrupled its sales network between July and September to nearly 2,00,000 business correspondents. Airtel Payments Bank has a network of 5,00,000 business correspondents, which it gradually built over a five-year period from 2017 to 2021. The network has stayed at that level since. "The payment bank's customer base grew to about 3 million in Q2 FY26, nearly double the 1.5 million customers in Q2 FY25, and a consistent 14% growth sequentially," Hitesh Sethia, MD & CEO-Jio Financial Services Ltd, told analysts during a post-earnings call last month. "This growth in customer base was supported by the rapid expansion of the payment bank's Business Correspondent, or BC network, to 2 lakh touchpoints, up from around 2,300 in Q2 FY25 and around 50,000 in Q1 FY26," he said. Expanding the sales network helps Jio Payments Bank widen its customer base, accept more deposits, and serves as a customer funnel. People who use its services, such as money transfer, are more likely to purchase value-accretive products from the lender, helping it expand its business. Jio Payments Bank initiated two value-added revenue streams in the July-September quarter: Savings Pro and digital toll processing. The former allows the customers to automatically invest idle money in overnight mutual funds, generating additional returns. The bank had deposits of Rs.421 crore as of September 30, over double the amount over a year earlier. Jio Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank did not respond to queries. The payments bank has inked a contract with the Indian Highway Management Co. for digital toll processing as a FASTag acquirer bank for 12 toll plazas. Jio Payments Bank, which commenced operations in 2018, had a network of approximately 2,300 business correspondents as of September 2024. The network surpassed 50,000 by July 2025. Then, it ballooned to a shade under 2,00,000 by the end of September. Jio poached sales and distribution employees from its rivals, especially Airtel Payments Bank, to leverage their existing channels, according to two such executives who have moved companies at twice their previous salary. These on-ground sales executives were given targets of recruiting up to 5,000 business correspondents, they said. Having recruited correspondents for their former employer, mostly Airtel Payments Bank, it was just a matter of convincing the correspondents to sign on to Jio Payments Bank's network, too, they added. This sped up the network expansion for Jio. Business correspondents don't work exclusively with any one payment bank. They are typically small business owners running mobile repair shops, bill payment services, or making photocopies, and sign up for this work as an additional revenue stream....