In the era of the booming MSME sector in the country, ICICI Bank has initiated a brilliant step towards the growth of six crore MSMEs. The reputed bank has started a digital ecosystem that consists of participants of not only the ICICI bank, but other banks as well.
The initiative has been set up to develop the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India. The ecosystem is formed with three key components. These are:
- Providing improved and easy banking and credit services to the existing users of the bank.
- Giving necessary banking services quickly to MSMEs, irrespective of whether they are customers of other banks or the same bank.
- Offering secure and timely useful and valuable services to users from different sections of society.
The bank has attempted to revolutionize banking services by introducing digital solutions for customers. Any person can benefit from this initiative. The only thing they have to do is install the latest version of their app, InstaBIZ, from the appropriate app store.
At the launch of this ecosystem, the Executive Director of ICICI Bank (Mr. Anup Bagchi) expressed his happiness and stated that the bank is ever-ready to help MSMEs flourish in the country. He further showed that this initiative would give the bank to be a partner in the immense growth of the sector.
Adding to it, Bagchi mentioned the future of MSMEs and their association with the technology. The bank is constantly innovating and creating digital solutions to develop MSMEs. The objective of this ecosystem is to provide unified services to customers from all the banks. It does not want to limit the growth of MSMEs to only the existing users of the bank.
The process of linking a customer with the InstaBIZ app is simple. The new users from different banks have to sign up to the portal as guests. After logging in, they can avail various impressive services.
One of these services is the easy approval of overdraft. The bank provides a simple, quick, and paperless overdraft facility with an upper limit of INR 25 Lakh. The overdraft is provided through the feature called ‘InstaOD’. However, users of other banks will have to set up the OD in this feature through a video KYC which is otherwise not required for ICICI Bank customers.
Apart from this feature, there are many other advantages to MSMEs. Now, a person can open a current account in the bank without any paperwork. It facilitates the easy and quick setup of accounts. The bank system automatically fills the account form and links the Aadhaar or PAN card through technological means.
The bank has also smoothened the MSMEs work by providing the existing as well as non-existing customers of the bank with various unique and attractive services. The bank has partnered with well-known organizations or companies like Airtel, Zoho Books, IndiaMART, etc., to eliminate intermediaries for the MSMEs setup process.
Both existing and non-existing customers of the ICICI bank can access the old digital feature of the bank, Trade Emerge. Through this platform, people can easily perform trade transactions, fetch letters of credit, etc.
With regards to online payments, the app provides an instant and uninterrupted platform for UPI and card transactions. Professionals like doctors and lawyers can now get various benefits from this app.
Lastly, this app aids customers or users in paying GST on time. Instant UPI payments, QR code scanning, etc., assists them in paying various taxes conveniently. The app also provides timely reminders or deadlines for payments or receipts. This process is done based on customer profiles. For example, a business owner will get a reminder to pay GST or repay loans.
