Private lender ICICI Bank today linked a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID to its digital wallet ’Pockets’, exiting from the current practice of linking such IDs with a savings bank account.
As a part of this development, new users, including those who are not customers of ICICI Bank, will now be able to instantly get a UPI ID, which is automatically linked to ‘Pockets’.
Besides, customers who already have a UPI ID, will now get a new ID when they log on to the ‘Pockets’ app. This initiative will help users to perform a small value everyday transactions directly from their ‘Pockets’ wallet using UPI in a safe and secure manner.
ICICI Bank is the first bank in India to enable customers to make UPI transactions from their wallet balance instead of their savings account.
The Bank partnered with NPCI to link its ‘Pockets’ digital wallet to the UPI network, paving way for this novel initiative of linking of a customer’s UPI ID with his/ her digital wallet.
Bijith Bhaskar, Head- Digital Channels & Partnership, ICICI Bank said, “We, at ICICI Bank, focus on technological innovations to offer unique propositions that are simple, fast and convenient. Five years ago, we launched ‘Pockets’, enabling users to open a digital wallet instantly on their mobile phone and start transacting immediately. Our research suggests that users are keen to link their UPI ID with their digital wallet, so that they can directly use the balance in the wallet for smaller transactions while using their savings account only for the larger ones. Armed with this insight, we are delighted to have worked closely with NPCI to introduce this unique innovative solution in digital banking. We believe, the facility will provide immense convenience and the advantage of secured UPI payments to customers using ‘Pockets’ wallet.”
Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, “We are delighted to collaborate with ICICI Bank to launch the solution of creating and linking a UPI ID to digital wallet. This initiative will further democratize access to UPI and make it ubiquitous with digital payments by allowing consumers to directly pay through their digital wallets, in addition to the facility of paying from their bank accounts. UPI is a one-stop solution to payments of all kinds, both P2M and P2P, and this facility will provide an impetus to the burgeoning digital ecosystem in India. We at NPCI, constantly endeavour to create an evolved user experience by integrating technology with innovation, and the launch of this offering is a step in the right direction.”
To start using the facility, a new user needs to download and log-in to ‘Pockets’. On successful login, a ‘Pockets’ VPA is automatically created based on the registered mobile number of the user. For eg: 9999xxxxxx@pockets where ‘9999xxxxxx’ is the registered mobile number. There are no bank account details required for the creation of the UPI ID. Further, a user can also modify the auto-created UPI ID to an ID of his/her choice, through the ‘modify’ option under ‘BHIM UPI’ within the app.
