As per a report by a leading private research firm, India’s internet users are expected to register a double digit growth to reach 627 million in 2019, driven by rapid internet growth in rural areas.
The surge has also been witnessed in the banking industry with more and more customers moving to the online medium to avail key services ranging from fund transfers to paying bills at the tap of a button.
ICICI Bank has led the trend and actively participated in making banking faster and simpler than ever for its customers with its mobile banking app, iMobile. The Bank has emerged as the overall ‘leader’ of the pack of mobile banking apps in India, in a report published by Forrester, a marquee American research firm.
The Bank secured the top spot in the report – ‘The Forrester Banking Wave™: Indian Mobile Apps, Q2 2019’ with a combined score of 77, 13 points ahead of the next highest scoring bank on the basis the detailed evaluation of 36 functionality and 26 user experience criteria. The Bank has received the top honour once again.
Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “We, at ICICI Bank, have been offering a lot of technology-led retail products instantaneously to our customers, so that they can enjoy unparalleled convenience of experiencing instant digital services. These path-breaking products and services are offered to the customers at the fastest possible speed and with the highest level of convenience. With the country making rapid strides in mobile technology, the consumer preference has shifted towards doing everything ‘on-the-go’. This insight has motivated us in leveraging upon data analytics and technology to introduce a large set of services instantly available for our customers.
We believe that bringing all of these instant products and services to the Bank’s iMobile app will further enhance customer convenience and make their banking experience hassle-free.”
With more than 200 services in its bag, here’s a look at some of the key things that you can do instantly using the iMobile app:
- Instant loans – ICICI Bank offers a slew of instant loans to its customer, which enable them to get:
- a) Insta personal loan – ‘Insta PL’ enables pre-approved customers of the Bank to avail a personal loan and get it credited directly to their account in a matter of seconds. The customer does not need to produce any collateral or security which makes the entire process paperless and instant. The eligibility of the customer to avail this service is dependent on their credit history.
- b) Insta home loan sanction – ‘Insta HL’ enables lakhs of pre-approved salaried customers of the Bank to avail final sanction letter digitally & instantly for loans upto Rs 1 crore for a tenure of upto 30 years (based on the age of the customer) using the Bank’s internet banking facility. Customers no longer need to visit a branch to submit physical documents like application form, KYC and income documents. The final sanction letter, which is delivered instantly from the Bank to the customer’s registered email id, is valid for six months. For the disbursal of the home loan, the borrower needs to visit the nearest branch or contact the assigned relationship manager with the sanction letter and the documents of the home he/she wants to purchase.
- c) Insta top-up home loan – The facility helps existing home loan customers of the Bank to avail the facility of topping up his/her home loan instantaneously upto Rs 20 lakh for a tenure upto 10 years, in a completely digital and paperless manner. The facility helps the customers to get the top up amount disbursed immediately in their account as compared to the industry practice of approving and disbursing a top-up home loan in a few working days
- Insta credit card – This first-of-its-kind offering in the Indian banking industry enables the savings account customers of the Bank to get a credit card instantly, in a completely digital and paperless manner. The service enables a few lakh of pre-qualified customers of the Bank to instantly get the credit card number and other important details online, using which, he/she can immediately start shopping online, without having to wait for the physical card to arrive. Available round-the-clock and on all days, the credit card comes with a credit limit of upto Rs four lakh based on pre-checked bureau scores. Customers will also get the physical credit card within few working days.
- Insta Mobile protection plan – The instant ‘Mobile Protection plan’ under the All Risk insurance is exclusively available to the Bank’s customers and provides a one-time accidental screen damage protection cover for select models which are less than one year old.
The group policy is underwritten by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and the Bank’s customers can enrol under it in 3 simple steps instantly, in a completely digital and paperless manner using the iMobile app. Also, making the claim process hassle-free and cashless, it enables customers to get their insurance claim within 72 hours of submitting the required documents digitally.
Available on select Android based devices, the feature will soon be introduced for iOS based devices.
- Insta SIP – Customers can now enrol for a Mutual Fund Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) within a few minutes using the iMobile app. Here’s how you can avail the service:
- a) Log in to the iMobile app > Invest & Insure > Insta SIP
- b) Enter the amount for SIP you wish to create
- c) Funds are suggested basis your risk appetite
- d) You can select one of the suggested funds or choose on your own
- e) Confirm the SIP creation
- Securing card transactions – In a first for the Indian banking industry, ICICI Bank introduced the ‘Manage Cards’ feature in iMobile app, that gives customers the power to control the security of their cards from their own phones at just the flick of a button, 24×7.
With the ‘Manage Cards’ feature, customers can:
- a) Temporarily block / unblock the Card
- b) Block / unblock online transactions
- c) Block / unblock international transactions
- d) Block / unblock ATM withdrawals
Additionally, using this feature, customers can also request for an extension or reduction in their credit limit and take a look at the visual analysis of their spends across different categories like food, entertainment and shopping among others.
- Instant CIBIL report – ICICI Bank enables its Wealth customers to check their CIBIL scores instantly, right from the comfort of the iMobile app. Customers can also download a detailed report or check various important parameters like ‘Borrowings’, ‘Mix of Borrowings’, ‘Payment History’ and ‘Complete Portfolio’.
Here’s how to get your instant CIBIL report using iMobile:
- a) Login to the iMobile app
- b) Tap on ‘Accounts & Deposits’ tab
- c) Tap on ‘My Credit Bureau Report’
- d) Tap ‘View CIBIL Report’
- One-click shopping – In addition to the financial services that iMobile offers, customers can also fulfill their lifestyle needs with a few taps digitally. The iMobile app offers various enhanced features to the customers like air-fare comparison across airlines, rail, bus and hotel booking, hassle-free cancellations and much more, all at one stop. With this, customers can now enjoy the added convenience of one platform to fulfill their financial and lifestyle needs.
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