ICICI Bank partners ZestMoney to expand “cardless EMI” facility
India’s ICICI Bank announced that it has partnered with ZestMoney, a digital equated money instalments (EMI)/pay later platform, to expand its “cardless EMI” facility for purchases offline and online.
With the partnership, ICICI Bank’s customers can have access to pre-approved cardless credit to buy products and services “instantly” through EMI via ZestMoney.
The facility is live on select e-commerce websites and the firms say will be made available at retail stores soon.
“With this partnership, millions of our pre-approved customers can shop from e-commerce platforms and retail merchants registered on ZestMoney by just using mobile phone and permanent account number (PAN),” says Sudipta Roy, head, unsecured assets, ICICI Bank.
“We believe this facility provides immense convenience and improves affordability of our customers, as they can purchase high-value products on EMIs in a secure, instant and digital manner, without even carrying their cards or wallet.”
Lizzie Chapman, CEO and co-founder of ZestMoney, says that the bank’s customers will also be able to use ZestMoney’s “pay-in-3” no-cost EMI to make purchases.
“Collaborations will enable both parties to leverage each other’s core capabilities and harness cross-industry innovation. We are certain that this partnership will help create a larger cardless EMI/digital pay later category and scale it to its full potential,” Chapman adds.
ICICI Bank claims to be the first bank to introduce “Cardless EMI” facility in 2020 to offer cashless purchases, and says they have received an “encouraging” response for it from customers.