ICICI Bank in arrangement with Tech Mahindra Limited, on Monday announced the launch of ‘Tap n Pay’, a contactless payment service based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. This innovative payment service enables anyone (account holder of ICICI Bank or not) to make over-the-counter payments without using cash. It allows users to just tap the NFC enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to make payments.
 
‘Tap n Pay’ is a prepaid account, which can be availed by customers of any bank by simply registering for it and transferring money online from any bank account. ICICI Bank customers can also transfer money to the Tap-n-Pay account through an SMS. To start with, this solution is being offered at large campuses of corporate offices. ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra have plans to extend this service across the country.
 
“ICICI Bank has always been at the forefront of introducing innovative technology for a world class customer experience. We are delighted to partner with Tech Mahindra to enable a contactless payment service in the country for low value transactions. This initiative will offer a new, differentiated digital solution to replace cash for regular and small value payments made over the counter in large campuses. We believe that this service will offer users an unparalleled experience of making quick and safe payments like buying meal coupons at canteens with just a tap of their mobile phone or the NFC tag. Its usability is wide as it allows customer of any bank to register for ‘Tap-n-Pay’ with no documentation or branch visit. It will additionally ease the day-to-day hassle of cash handling and currency change for merchants too,” said Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank.
 
“As a technology company, we always endeavor to provide superior user experience to the end customer of our business partners. ICICI Bank is known for its continuous innovation to bring in enhanced customer experience. As such, the synergies between the two partners will bring about a new payments ecosystem, parallel to, and yet in harmony with, the existing payment networks in the country and further the move towards a digital India,” said C P Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra.
 
Once an organization has enrolled for the service, its employee only need to register online with their details to avail the facility and collect the NFC tag from the kiosk set up for this purpose.
 
The launch of this initiative comes close on the heels of a slew of technology-led innovative services by ICICI Bank. These include the launch of the windows version of iMobile, new apps for Mobile Banking, fully automated 24X7 'Touch Banking' branches, Tab Banking and the country's first contactless debit and credit cards. Recently, the Bank launched 'icicibankpay', India's first service that allows users to send money over Twitter and 'Pockets by ICICI Bank', the country's first digital bank available for download by anyone on mobile phone.