Bharti, SBI to invest $22 mln in mobile banking joint venture

India's top mobile operator  Bharti Airtel <BRTI.BO> and State Bank of India will together initially invest Rs1 billion ($22 million) in a joint venture for mobile-based banking, OP Bhatt, chairman of the country's top lender, said on Wednesday.  

Bharti Airtel said in September it had received a licence from the central bank to launch mobile payment services.

Bharti Airtel had 149.4 million mobile customers in India at end-November, in a market of more than 700 million mobile users.

India is the world's fastest-growing and the second-biggest market for mobile connections.