MUMBAI, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian lenders are launching several initiatives to avoid physical contact amid unprecedented times during COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, private lender IndusInd Bank announced the launch of country's first mobile app-based facility for opening current accounts for self employed persons and business enterprises digitally while another private lender RBL Bank also launched a similar facility powered by video KYC (Know-your-customer) earlier this week.
IndusInd had earlier launched video banking services, with the integration of a "Video KYC" platform for onboarding savings account and credit card customers.
"Our digitally acquired savings account grew 4x during the lockdown period and we anticipate it to grow to 10x in the next quarter," said Surinder Chawla, head - retail liabilities and wealth management, RBL Bank.
As a precautionary step during the two-month nationwide lockdown following COVID-19 crisis, Indian lenders have been operating with reduced staff and restricted banking hours. The lockdown has been extended in containment zones by one more month till June 30, with extensive relaxations.
The app launched by IndusInd uses multiple "Application Programme Interface" (APIs) which enables secured validation of KYC documents from authorised government platforms such as the Goods and Service Tax (GST), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), Import Export Code (IEC) and Unique Identification Number - Aadhaar.
Customers need not go through the hassle of submitting physical Know-Your-Customer (KYC) documents which also helps in reducing the usage of paper while details of the digitally validated documents of the said entity and the authorised signatories will be fetched directly from the government. databases using APIs, said the statement by the bank, that commenced its operations in 1994.
As of Thursday afternoon, India, which is now ranked seventh among all countries in terms of number of confirmed cases, now has 106,737 active cases of COVID-19 with 6,075 deaths reported so far. Enditem
