HDFC Bank sees mobile banking overtaking net banking next year

Private sector lender HDFC Bank may see transactions undertaken on mobile devices overtake those on Internet banking from the next fiscal, a top official said today.
"Usage of mobiles has been growing rapidly and outpacing the growth of the Internet transactions. We feel next year it will overtake Internet banking," its head of digital banking Nitin Chugh told reporters here.
Declining to share specific data on mobile adoption within the bank, he said over 70 per cent of people access the Internet through the mobile phones at present and the same will have to reflect in its usage as well.

This April, the bank had reported 17.46 lakh mobile transactions worth over Rs 5,686 crore, making it the market leader in the segment in value terms, while SBI is the leader by volume at 78.48 lakh.
He said the use of mobiles and the Internet combined has also been growing steadily and it accounts of 63 per cent of total transactions for the bank today.
Chugh said the same number was at 44 per cent two years ago and a low 13 per cent a decade ago.

After announcing that it has made an application to run on Apple's recently launched Watch, the bank today gave a demonstration of its software which runs on the i-Watch.

Apple is yet to launch i-Watch, which sells at a minimum of USD 349, in the country.
The bank has developed the wearable device (watch) application only for Apple phones for now, but will also be launching similar ones to run on Android-powered watches made by brands like Samsung and Motorola shortly.
Chugh said HDFC Bank chose Apple for its user interface, design and also because a 'good part' of its customer base uses i-Phones.
Its rival ICICI Bank also has a similar offering, but it works on both Apple and Android systems.
Chugh said there are 30 banks globally which have launched i-Watch-based applications and claimed HDFC Bank is among the first three to announce that it will be developing such an application.

A customer can do 10 types of transactions using the i-Watch, including account information, mobile recharges, sending requests for cheque books and location-based services like viewing nearby discount offers and ATMs.