Icici Bank Set To Tie Up With Bpl Mobile

ICICI Bank is close to tying up with BPL Mobile for providing mobile banking services to its customers. This would make it the second bank in India to render this service after HDFC Bank tied up with Orange (formerly) Hutchison Max Telecom over a month ago.

BPL is the cellular service provider in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu (barring Chennai and Kerala). An announcement to this effect is expected next week, sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations said.

With this venture, ICICI will be able to start mobile banking services immediately. BPL mobile has around 50 per cent of the market share in Mumbai with subscriber base close to 1.33 lakh.

 

Senior officials of ICICI Bank confirming the joint venture said, "Initially we would only be tying up with BPL Mobile for provision of these services, though more options could be considered later. The launch is likely to be announced in the next few days."

However, bank officials were not able to confirm the kind of services to be provided although they are likely to be similar to those provided by HDFC Bank. "We would be in a position to talk about this in detail only in a couple of days," said the bank official.

In a fax reply to a Business Standard questionnaire, BPL Mobile chief executive officer said the company is currently in discussions with several banks for the provision of mobile banking services. However company sources said a concrete picture will emerge only by next week.

Balance enquiry, stop payment, mini statements, cheque-book demand, statement request and change operative account requests would be the facilities offered by the bank.

Advanced level transactions such as bill payments and funds transfer can only be made available in the future with technological advances.