In India, ICICI is one of the best choices in terms of the e-banking services available
ICICI: Everything you need to know about its online solutions. Source: depositphotos.com
Netbanking or e-banking offers a range of benefits for the end customers. As of 2020, as many as 1.9 billion individuals worldwide actively used online banking services for their daily transactions. In India, 68% of consumers use either online or mobile banking.
Although today, almost all bank accounts come with a netbanking account by default, the quality and variety of netbanking services differ from bank to bank.
Besides traditional web and mobile interfaces, ICICI also offers the iWear application through which users can stay connected to their financial institution via smartwatches.
Online banking features
The ICICI internet-banking platform has been recently upgraded to a new enhanced version with a superior user interface and navigation. It allows users to manage all of their accounts at the bank easily. All payments and transfer options are available within the same menu. User experience is customised for all customers with targeted features. For instance, there are privilege links for Privilege Banking customers and investment insights for Wealth Management customers.
The possibilities of Internet banking are numerous. Namely, you can transfer funds from other bank accounts using UPI, check balance and account details, view and download detailed statements, receive e-statements for debit accounts, credit cards, Demat accounts holding financial securities, and PPF accounts.
Customers can also enrol for the national pension system or corporate NPS online. Besides, ICICI net banking offers life and health insurance policy options, as well as travel insurance, wellness plans, and home contents insurance.
With ICICI net banking, users get a virtual debit card to use along with their physical cards. They can also order a virtual credit card or apply for a loan without visiting their bank branch. ICICI customers can pay utility bills in a manual mode online or automate regular payments. It’s also possible to receive one’s CIBIL creditworthiness report with the help of the net banking portal. Managing fixed/recurring deposits is available online as well.
The bank has implemented the AI-powered iPal chatbot for customer service. Every month, it serves about 1 million requests both on the website and mobile banking application. Besides answering customers’ questions, the in-app iPal engine enables customers to undertake financial transactions like bill pay, fund transfer and recharges. Users can interact with the chatbot using voice commands instead of typing their queries which increases convenience and inclusion of financial assistance. On the downside, currently, iPal speaks and understands only English.
Moreover, ICICI has online investment services, allowing customers to invest through mutual funds and invest in IPO online through ASBA facility.
Its netbanking platform also incorporates a shopping marketplace where users can compare prices and buy travel tickets, various items from popular retailers, or educational products, while getting access to cashback offers and other exclusive rewards.
Another benefit of the ICICI online facilities is the ability to pay both direct and indirect taxes, and file income tax online.
The new webpage version offers a customisable dashboard with drag & drop functionality. Users can set up homepage shortcuts for frequently used features. What’s more, users can also manage their own profile through the ‘My Profile’ section. As for the netbanking customer’s profile, users get a lot of flexibility, being able to personalise transaction limits, set favourite accounts and banking activities for quick access, manage the quick checkout option for selected merchants, register for a digital signature certificate to access information or services on the Internet or to sign certain documents digitally.
Mobile experiences
ICICI bank provides its customers with a few mobile banking apps to carry out daily transactions.
First, there’s iMobile Pay – a multi-functional app for payments, savings, investments, and insurance. It helps users to access over 170 banking services on their mobiles. The best thing is that you can use the app’s functions even without the ICICI bank account. Users of all Indian banks can continue to bank with their favourite institutions and still use ‘iMobile Pay’ for all their digital transactions.
One of the newest features is the ‘Scan and Pay’ QR-code facility that works for both shopping and P2P payments. Merchants, on the other hand, can use the ‘Scan and Collect’ option to receive the due purchase price. These two features allow customers to scan a QR code of any payments app and send money to any UPI ID or bank account, payment app and digital wallet. Another prominent feature of iMobile Pay is ‘pay to contacts’ which enables users to automatically see the UPI IDs of their phone book contacts, and send money to each other without unnecessary sharing of credit card details.
Then, the bank has a separate business banking mobile app called InstaBiz. Just as the main flagship product, it’s available both for ICICI customers and non-customers who can log in as guests and avail all of the major banking features. For instance, collection through POS and UPI QR codes is available to all app users no matter the bank they prefer. However, ICICI business clients have more privileges such as instant overdraft, quick tax payments, business loans, foreign trade, investment and insurance solutions. The app users also get free access to a business networking platform, industry expert insights, exclusive alliance offers, and a business management tool to raise and manage invoices and bills, with the advantage of auto bank reconciliation.
Meanwhile, Pockets app is an e-wallet that comes with a physical shopping Visa card. The wallet can be funded via internet banking of any bank, NEFT from any bank account or any debit card. There are specially chosen shopping deals from selected brands right in the app. Besides shopping, you can transfer money to bank accounts and mobile numbers, as well as request money from friends.
Money2India allows remittances from 7 supported countries with a loyalty program for US business customers. The transaction can be initiated by voice command to Siri for iOS users. Repeated transactions are made easy and quickly paid in a few clicks. Beneficiary accounts can be added from social networks and messengers, without knowing actual bank details. All transactions are conveniently tracked.
There’s also a number of other ICICI apps for different purposes.
iWear
iWear is ICICI Bank’s Android Wear banking application allowing you to stay connected with your ICICI Bank account via your smart watch. It works only after the user has downloaded Android Wear to their mobile devices and completed the OTP-based registration process.
On your smartwatch, you can perform a few basic operations:
- View information about your bank and credit card accounts.
- Check balance details and last 3 transactions.
- Recharge your prepaid mobile number.
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