India-based banking group ICICI Bank has launched an all-digital mode of payment at major retail stores. Referred to as the “ICICI Bank Cardless EMI” (Equated Monthly Instalments), the facility allows thousands of the bank’s pre-approved customers to purchase their favorite gadgets or home appliances simply by using their smartphone and PAN in lieu of wallet or payment cards.
Customers will be able to convert high-value transactions into more manageable, no-cost monthly installment plans by putting their registered mobile number, PAN, and OTP (received on mobile number) on the PoS machine at various Indian retail outlets.
ICICI Bank is reportedly the first in the banking and financial services sector to offer an all-digital, cardless EMI facility at local retail stores. The Bank has teamed up with Pine Labs, an established merchant commerce platform, in order to provide this facility across pan-India outlets of retailers including Croma, Reliance Digital, My Jio Stores, and Sangeetha Mobiles.
As mentioned in a release shared with Crowdfund Insider:
“At these stores, customers can avail the ‘Cardless EMI’ facility to purchase electronics from leading brands like Carrier, Daikin, Dell, Godrej, Haier, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Oppo, Panasonic, Toshiba, Vivo, Whirlpool and MI. The Bank will add many more brands as well as retailers under this facility in near future.”
Sudipta Roy, Head- Unsecured Assets, ICICI Bank, noted that at the institution, they’re always working on offering better services to their customers and also aim to offer innovative solutions to make banking “more accessible and hassle-free.” Roy added that buying home appliances, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets on EMI has become quite common in India. He claims that the bank has seen many consumers buying items, especially durables, by using EMI facilities on credit and debit cards.
ICICI Bank will also be offering the “Cardless EMI” facility so that the consumers are able to transact simply by using mobile phone and PAN, without carrying their payment cards or wallets.
Roy added:
“We believe this facility will empower [thousands] of pre-approved ICICI Bank customers in the on-going festive season to purchase products of their choice in a completely contactless, digital and secure manner.”
Amrish Rau, CEO at Pine Labs, noted that the Cardless EMI is “a very complex program to develop, yet it is extremely secure.”
Rau remarked:
“We hope this will open new consumer segments and give access to shop-now-pay-later at more than 1 lakh [or 100,000] Pine Labs merchants across India. We are very excited to partner with ICICI Bank on this cutting edge technology program.”