RBI payments bank. Scheduled. DICGC. Bharti Airtel. Not a universal bank, not a wallet.
Gurugram · India payments bank · Bharti Airtel
6.7Mixed
Airtel Payments Bank Ltd is an RBI payments bank (licence under Banking Regulation Act s.22; first payments-bank licence in 2016; scheduled-bank status January 2022). Registered office on their contact page: 5th Floor, Sewa Towers, Udyog Vihar Phase-IV, Gurgaon 122015. DICGC lists Airtel Payments Bank Limited. Eligible deposits follow DICGC up to Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank. RBI payments-bank rules also cap the end-of-day balance — read the live deposit policy; this file does not invent the rupee figure. Fi and Jupiter sit at partner scheduled banks. Niyo is travel. IPPB and Fino are the other payments-bank files. Use Airtel Payments Bank as a UPI / small-deposit bank. Do not treat it as HDFC.
Best for: Indian residents who want an RBI payments bank for UPI and small deposits — not a salary-plus-loan home.
Why it beats India Post Payments Bank
Named RBI payments bank, scheduled
DICGC listed
Airtel distribution
Watch-outs
Payments-bank class cannot be a full lender
End-of-day deposit-size limit — read the live policy
Not Fi/Jupiter’s partner-bank current-account story
Licence
Payments bank — Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. Scheduled bank (Jan 2022). Banking Regulation Act s.22
Protection
Airtel Payments Bank Ltd is an RBI-licensed payments bank and a scheduled bank. DICGC lists Airtel Payments Bank Limited. Eligible deposits are DICGC-insured up to Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank. RBI payments-bank rules also cap how much you may hold — read the live deposit policy on airtelpayments.bank.in. This is a bank class, not a PPI wallet. It is not a full commercial bank: credit/lending is restricted.
RBI payments bank. DICGC. Navi Mumbai. Merchant-plus-app. Not a universal bank.
Navi Mumbai · India payments bank / merchant network · Listed payments bank — confirm live
6.5Mixed
Fino Payments Bank Limited, registered at Mindspace Juinagar, Plot No Gen 2/1/F, Tower 1, 8th Floor, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC Shirwane, Juinagar, Navi Mumbai 400 706. RBI payments bank. DICGC lists Fino Payment Bank Ltd. Their own FAQ: PAN is mandatory; a minimum-KYC (Aadhaar OTP) account must be upgraded within a year or it is closed. That sentence is the onboarding review. Airtel Payments Bank and IPPB are the peer files. Jupiter and Fi sit at partner commercial banks and can look more like a salary home. Use Fino as a payments bank with a shop network. Do not leave a min-KYC balance sitting.
Best for: Indian users who will actually complete full KYC at a Fino merchant, not a minimum-KYC leftover.
Why it beats India Post Payments Bank
Named RBI payments bank
DICGC listed
Dense merchant network outside metros
Watch-outs
Minimum-KYC accounts auto-close if not upgraded (their FAQ)
Payments-bank deposit-size limit
Not a lender
Licence
Payments bank — Fino Payments Bank Limited
Protection
Fino Payments Bank Limited is an RBI payments bank. DICGC lists Fino Payment Bank Ltd. Eligible deposits follow DICGC up to Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank. Payments-bank end-of-day balance limits still apply — read the live T&Cs. Merchant-point KYC is distribution, not a second licence.
Fi was an Indian money app on a Federal Bank savings account. The app is no longer the channel. The deposit was always Federal Bank.
4.1
Bengaluru · 5M+ · ~$140M raised
6.9Mixed
The Fi app is not where you bank. On 11 March 2026 Fi told customers the banking services on the app would stop. Federal Bank said the partnership was ending and the account stayed put. That is the whole file. Directories that still list Fi as a live Indian neobank are dating a wrapper. NeoBankDB keeps the slug so “Fi Money alternative” search does not hit a 404, and so the 2021–26 wrapper era has an obituary. Funds were never at “Fi Bank”. There is no such licence. Download Federal Bank’s FedMobile. The account number did not change. Compare live India files: Jupiter, Niyo, Scapia (card, not a deposit).
Best for: Historical file. Do not open the savings SKU here.
Why it beats India Post Payments Bank
Fit Rules are still clever
US investing hook
Clean analytics
Watch-outs
Partner-bank model
US stocks ≠ bank deposits
Category has thinned
Licence
Partner-bank fintech
Protection
DICGC follows Federal Bank, not Fi. If you still have the account, open FedMobile.
Yuh is not a bank. Swissquote Bank Ltd is. esisuisse cover is CHF 100,000, shared.
Gland · Swiss all-in-one app · Swissquote (100% after July 2025)
7.6Solid
Yuh is not a bank. The English homepage says it in one paragraph: Swissquote Bank Ltd provides the banking, FINMA authorises that bank, and esisuisse cover is CHF 100,000 shared with Swissquote. July 2025 ended the PostFinance joint venture. If you already hold cash at Swissquote, do not count CHF 100,000 twice. Zak is Bank Cler. Neon sits at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. Read those files separately.
Best for: People who live in Switzerland and want spend plus invest, and who accept Swissquote as the bank.
Why it beats India Post Payments Bank
Official line: Yuh is not a bank
Swissquote Bank Ltd is named
esisuisse CHF 100,000 is printed
Watch-outs
Shared cap with any Swissquote cash you already hold
Swiss residency
Not Zak, not Neon, not Alpian
Licence
Fintech app — not a bank
Protection
Yuh itself is not a bank. Banking sits at Swissquote Bank Ltd, FINMA-authorised. esisuisse covers eligible deposits up to CHF 100,000. Yuh and Swissquote are one entity, so the cap is shared.
Monthly
No fees whenever possible — live list on yuh.com/en/pricing
J.P. Morgan Europe Limited trading as Chase. UK bank, PRA/FCA, FSCS up to £120,000.
London · UK digital bank · JPMorgan Chase
7.6Solid
Chase UK is a bank. The legal name is J.P. Morgan Europe Limited. PRA-authorised, FCA-regulated, FSCS up to £120,000. It is a useful UK current account with honest travel spend. It is not Revolut’s multi-country stack and not a US Chase login. UK tax residents only.
Best for: UK residents who want a JPMorgan current account in an app, with FSCS, and cheap travel spend.
Why it beats India Post Payments Bank
Real UK bank, not an EMI
FSCS £120,000
£0 monthly
Watch-outs
UK residents only
No overdraft
App-only
Licence
UK bank
Protection
FSCS up to £120,000 per depositor per bank (Chase UK FSCS page) at J.P. Morgan Europe Limited.
India Post Payments Bank is scored 6.5. Weaknesses on this file: UX; Payments-bank limits. Alternatives above are scored independently, not paid placements.
02
Are these India Post Payments Bank alternatives available in the same countries?
Coverage is per product. Open the country page and the individual review — a UK bank licence does not travel, and an EMI is not FSCS.
03
How do I compare them side by side?
Use Compare on any card, up to four products, then open compare.
