Bharat ATM, a rural banking network that provides banking services to small merchants and clients via its aided banking app, announced on Tuesday that it intends to add about 20 lakh outlets by the end of the year. Currently, it has onboarded 4.5 lakh small merchants covering 14,645 PIN codes. The company has served over 20 lakh retail customers with their banking needs, Bharat ATM said in a statement.

The app offers banking services, including account opening, deposits, remittances, and cash withdrawals to rural masses in tie-up with local kirana stores, thereby eliminating the need to invest time and money travelling significant distances to the closest bank branch or ATM, it said.

The app allows its retail customers to open bank accounts at the neighbourhood store by just producing their Aadhaar and PAN cards and authentication using e-KYC.

"Till date, Bharat ATM has helped more than 20 lakh customers to avail banking services at their doorstep or the local kirana store with a customer repeat rate of 30 per cent. We are planning to add around two million retail stores on the Bharat ATM platform by the end of 2022," the company's founder Ram Shriram said.

Using private banks' proprietary licences, it already has a network of 3.5 lakh touchpoints across the country comprising 20,000 handheld terminals (wireless ATMs) for cards.