ICICI Bank floats online serivce to open PPF account from home

ICICI Bank has launched a digital service that allows customers to open a public provident fund (PPF ) account online. The new service from the private sector bank will allow its customers to open a PPF account quickly and in a completely online and paperless manner.

The new service does not require a customer to submit paper documents as they are verfied online while opening a PPF account. "With this new facility, customers of the bank are no longer required to visit a branch and submit physical documents to open a PPF account. They can now conveniently open a PPF account anytime, anywhere using the bank's digital channels of Internet and mobile banking," ICICI Bank said in a statement.

ICICI Bank is the first lender in the country to introduce a fully digital and paperless procedure for opening a PPF account. The online facility will be available 24x7 and on all days. The customers will have to login to their internet banking or mobile banking and apply for a PPF account through this service.

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Here's how to open a PPF account using the new online service through internet or mobile banking:

1. The customer will have to login to his retail banking account on the ICICI Bank website.

2. After this comes confirming auto-generated details like Permanent Account Number (PAN), address, etc. and fill in the initial deposit amount. The customer may also choose to add more money to the account through a monthly standing instruction to the bank.

3. To complete the process, customer will have to feed in his or her Aadhaar number in the required field and put in the Aadhaar OTP to confirm opening a PPF account through the online service. Once done, a new PPF account will be created within seconds.