CHENNAI: India's largest private lender by assets
ICICI Bank on Tuesday said it has crossed one lakh virtual payment addresses (VPA) on NPCI's Unified Payments Interface (
UPI) platform within three weeks of launch.
To increase UPI usage, ICICI has partnered with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for UPI-based payments at about 6,500 HPCL petrol pumps and more than 2,000 ABFRL stores.
For in-store payments using UPI, customers of ICICI and other bank can use ICICI ‘Pockets’ and ICICI ‘iMobile’ by downloading the app on their smartphones. Since ABFRL's network includes brands like Louis Philippe,
Peter England, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Planet Fashion, Linen Club, ICICI expects to see good traction with in-store payments via UPI.
“UPI is a path-breaking concept which will enable convenient person-to-person and merchant payments using mobile phones. It is the first time in the world that a project of such a scale is being introduced to customers," said
Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank. "We have received encouraging response from users including non-ICICI Bank customers for creating VPA using ‘Pockets," she added.
"ICICI Bank was among the front runners to launch our product UPI through app and we are glad to see such impressive acceptance in such a short span of time. Transactions on a real-time basis via mobile app has not been made possible anywhere else in the world," said A P Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI.
The VPA acts as a financial address for a user in lieu of their 16 digit bank account number and the 11 digit IFSC code. Once registered for VPA, bank account holders can send and receive money from their smartphones without the need to enter sensitive financial information.