The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Airtel Payments Bank for violation of regulations which included opening of accounts for customers without their knowledge.

"The supervisory visit report and other relevant documents, revealed contraventions of ‘Operating Guidelines for Payments Banks’ and the directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms,’’ RBI said in a statement.

"After considering the bank’s reply and oral submissions made in the personal hearing, RBI came to the conclusion that the aforesaid charges of non-compliance with RBI guidelines/directions were substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty."

The bank was earlier charged with unauthorised usage of Aadhaar details of people to open bank accounts and funnel government payments into those accounts without the knowledge of the people. Subsequently, its chief executive Shashi Arora quit the company.