ICICI Bank, one of India’s largest private sector banks has started registering new, user-friendly usernames on its mobile app as part of the UPI advanced payment platform of the government of India.
The usernames are in the format name@icici and can be registered by ICICI mobile app users and those who use its Pockets payment app.
The process is a bit like signing up for an email service and those who register first will be able to get the most suitable and interesting usernames.
The username can be any combination of letters and numbers and allows you to receive payments into your bank account without revealing your account details.
The username can also be used to make bill payments at grocery shops, taxi services and any other place quickly and efficiently.
ICICI Bank is among the 21 banks selected by the NPCI to rollout this new feature in the first phase.
Each bank can issue any number of user ID’s to its account holders.
Under the system a user named Ramesh can create the ID ramesh@icici and also create the same ramesh ID at other banks where he has an account independent of this ID.
While not all the selected banks have updated their mobile applications to include the UPI facility, some of the others such as Bank of Karnataka and Bank of Maharashtra have already done so.
Besides the three above listed banks, the following have also been selected for the UPI service: Axis Bank, Union Bank of India, United Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara Bank, UCO Bank, Bhartiya Mahila Bank and Vijaya Bank.
Some private banks, such as Catholic Syrian Bank, DCB Bank, Federal Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank, South Indian Bank and YES Bank have also qualified.
Interestingly, the country’s biggest bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank do not figure in the list.
