ICICI Bank on Tuesday launched its digital banking product that will allow any individual to transact through a mobile phone with or without a bank account.
This comes even as the banking regulator is in the midst of vetting the applications of payments bank aspirants. Players such as State Bank of India has partnered with Reliance Industries, while Kotak Mahindra Bank has a tie up with Bharti Airtel for obtaining payments bank licence. ICICI Bank has so far not partnered with any firm applying for a payments bank licence. However, Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, said: “We are always open to looking at partnerships and tie-ups.”
Kochhar added that the new digital product ‘Pockets’ has all the features that any bank, including payments bank, can have.
The bank also plans to allow loan facility on this product
Currently, users can send money to any email id, mobile number, Facebook friends and bank account. It also allows them to pay utility bills, recharge mobiles, book movie tickets, order food, gifts and share expenses through the e-wallet, Kochhar said.
The maximum limit on the e-wallet is ₹10,000. Any amount above that needs the user to link the wallet to any bank account or open an ICICI Bank account within 24 hours and operate it as a regular bank account.
Customers can use a virtual Visa card to make payments while they can also request for a physical card.
At present, the application is available on Google Play store on the Android platform, where it is was launched on Monday night.