ICICI Bank today announced that it has transformed its state-of-the-art mobile banking app, iMobile, into an app that offers payments and banking services to customers of any bank. Called ‘iMobile Pay’, the app offers a unique combination of facilities of a payment app-- such as enabling customers to pay to any UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID or merchants, pay bills and do online recharges among others-- with instant banking services namely savings account, investments, loans, credit cards, gift cards, travel cards and much more. The users of ‘iMobile Pay’ can also transfer money to any bank account, payment app and digital wallet. Another prominent feature of ‘iMobile Pay’ is ‘pay to contacts’ which enable users to automatically see the UPI IDs of their phone book contacts, registered on the ICICI Bank UPI ID network, of any payment app and digital wallet.
How to get started
To get started on ‘iMobile Pay’, customers of any bank in the country can download the app, instantly link their bank accounts and generate a UPI ID (which is simply their mobile number e.g. xxxxxx1234.imb@icici) to avail all the facilities.
Key features of ‘iMobile Pay’ are:
Open for all: ‘iMobile Pay’ enables customers of all banks to download this app and experience the quick transactions backed by best-in-class security features
Acts like a payments app: It allows customers to scan a QR code of any payments app and send money to any UPI ID, bank account, self. It helps the users to transfer the money instantly to anyone free-of-cost. Further, users can pay using the app at a host of establishments including petrol pumps, grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, hospitals, multiplexes and much more. Further, they can transfer money to any bank account, payment app or digital wallet.
Offers banking services: It also acts as a gateway for the customers to begin a new relationship with ICICI Bank. It allows them to open an ICICI Bank savings account digitally and instantaneously, apply for a credit card at zero joining fee and get instant approval for home/personal/car loans.Enables users to link multiple bank accounts: Users can transact using any of these linked accounts with a single UPI ID which is generated at the time of linking the first account.
More Features to be Added: The list of forthcoming exciting features include users can pay utility bills, recharge mobile phones, check CIBIL score, book travel tickets, buy travel and gift cards, invest in an FD, RD, mutual funds and insurances. They will also get a feature of spends tracker, that will provide an overview of spends, with all transactions are bucketed into specific categories, to help them track their balances.
Here are the simple steps to start using the app:
1) Download the app, ‘iMobile Pay’, from Google Play Store, open it and set up a four-digit log-in PIN. Users also have the option of logging in using their fingerprint. As of now, it is not available for iOS users.
2) Link accounts: On the welcome screen, tap on ‘link account’ and enter the required details to link the savings account of any bank. Users can also link multiple bank accounts.
3) Generate UPI ID: Upon successful linking of the accounts, a UPI ID will be generated, which can be used to start making transactions. The UPI ID generated will remain the same for all the linked bank accounts. Users can simply select the account of their choice, while making a transaction.