Soon, ICICI Bank loans will be an app away

Within six months, the country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank plans to launch a new app that will allow a customer to not only apply for a home, auto or personal loan via the mobile phone but also receive sanction on the device.

All retail loans

“Like (on) our mobile banking app, we are looking at ways and means to offer more asset solutions. It includes all types of retail loans. It will go through a normal sanction process,” said Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank.

The bank is looking at all digital solutions for peddling retail loans. In six months, hopefully the customer himself or with some help will be able to apply (for a loan) on the mobile and get it sanctioned (too), Sabharwal added.

There will be no need for the borrower to visit the branch. The disbursal will be directly made to the property developer or other vendor, he added.

Amid the race to gain market share, banks are using technology to stay ahead of the curve by building more digital banking products to attract the large young and tech-savvy population in the country.

ICICI Bank’s digital focus, especially mobile banking, has helped it with 61 per cent of total savings account customers transacting on the digital platform (Internet and mobile) and less than 10 per cent through branches.

Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank’s MD and CEO, in a post-results conference call with the media, said, “We had a market share of 32 per cent in mobile banking as in June 2015.”

The bank has plans to grow mobile banking transactions to ₹80,000 crore by end of this fiscal.