ICICI Bank: A bank in your pocket

ICICI Bank has recorded over 2 million downloads of its digital banking service, Pockets, till now

A mobile phone is not just a phone today - it is a watch, a diary, an alarm clock, a personal computer and, now, a wallet, which makes it more indispensable than ever before. Banks are rushing to make sure that your mobile phone becomes your bank too.

Looking at the growing penetration of smart phones and a surge in digital transactions, ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, introduced Pockets, a digital banking service that enables users to instantly send or request money to/from an email address, mobile number, Facebook and bank account. Launched in February, Pockets has witnessed over two million downloads till now. Of the total downloads, about 70 per cent are from non-ICICI Bank customers. Though getting the bank's customers to adopt a new mobile application is not difficult, the real challenge lies in getting customers of one bank to download an application offered by another, say experts.

QUICK FACTS

• ICICI Bank’s mobile wallet, Pockets, is targeted at first-time customers, especially the youth
• Allows users to instantly send or request money to/from an email address, mobile number, Facebook and bank account
• Over 2 million downloads since its launch in February
• ICICI Bank’s first offering that also targets non-ICICI Bank customers
• Users can also open a zero-balance account with the bank

With Pockets, ICICI Bank aims to target first-time customers, especially the youth. The lender believes that its advertising campaigns across print, digital and television have been key in roping in users who don't have an account with the bank. Sujit Ganguli, head of brands, ICICI Bank, claims its organic downloads have increased five-fold after its recent campaign. He adds that this is ICICI Bank's first offering that also targets non-ICICI Bank customers. With this application, one can also open a zero-balance account with the bank.

ICICI has positioned the mobile application as a digital bank, and is pushing it aggressively. This has come on the heels of the launch of the payments banks and the rise in mobile wallets by non-bank players that has intensified competition in the space. Ganguli says that features such as split bills, booking movie tickets, opening a bank account have been a hit among users.

He adds that since this product is targeting the youth, the bank decided to spend time with that audience set after the product was launched so that it can devise an advertising campaign based on the feedback gathered. "We have been spending a lot of time with the youth to understand what they want. Since they are looking for innovative and differentiated features we have tried to spin the ad based on that insight rather than on use cases such as recharging etc."

A vast majority of the internet population today do not use online banking services though they use a variety of other services available online. This, say lenders, presents a huge opportunity. An August report by Boston Consulting Group report, "Inclusive Growth With Disruptive Innovations", says, "Among the 42 per cent of customers who have internet access but do not use digital banking, we found 24 per cent doing online shopping, with 32 per cent transactions done using mobile wallets."

Bankers, however, say that the most commonly used transactions on the mobile banking platform continue to be mobile recharge and money transfer. The average ticket size on mobile banking for ICICI Bank is currently at Rs 5,000.

According to Reserve Bank of India data, in July, the bank recorded transactions worth Rs 6,885 crore. This shows a five-fold jump over the same period last year when the total transactions recorded was Rs 1,082 crore. Last year, transactions worth Rs 16,000 crore were recorded via the bank's mobile banking platform. To put things in perspective, India is among the most cash-intensive nations in the world with a cash to GDP ratio of 13 per cent in 2013-14, way more than countries such as the UK (3.36 per cent), the US (7.46 per cent) and China (9.47 per cent).