ICICI Bank has joined forces with fintech company Niyo to roll out prepaid cards for people working in Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The bank will offer Visa branded cards to blue-collar workers, who are mostly under-banked in India.
Employers can upload fund up to INR100,000 ($1,368) into to the ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card account, which the workers can spend as per their requirement.
The bank in its press statement said that the new offering will offer “convenience and safety of digital banking” to the blue-collar workforce.
ICICI Bank head – unsecured assets Sudipta Roy said: “We at ICICI Bank constantly strive to introduce facilities that foster inclusivity and extend the reach of the formal banking ecosystem. In line with this, we are delighted to partner with Niyo for the ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’.
“This partnership is yet another initiative by us to make banking products easily accessible to the underbanked population.”
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By GlobalDataTo avail the prepaid card, MSME need to team up with Niyo. Prepaid cards will be issued to the workers at their workplace itself after the tie-up is finalised.
Worker’s KYC verification will be carried out simultaneously using a bio-metric device.
Using the card, workers can withdraw money at ATMs, make online purchases and pay for purchases by swiping the card at PoS machines.
Niyo Co-founder and CEO Vinay Bagri said, “The Niyo Bharat Digital Salary Solution has the potential to bring millions of blue collared salaried workforces into the formal economy and also support the nation’s successful march towards Digital India.
“Our primary objective is to provide digital banking solutions for the blue-collar segment to not only foster financial inclusion but also inculcate a long-term saving habit among them.”
Niyo will offer a multilingual app called ‘Niyo Bharat Mobile app’ to further facilitate the cardholders.
Niyo Bharat business head Darpan Sharma said: “Partnership with ICICI bank is a milestone in our journey to provide best in class service to the underbanked blue collar segment.
“The partnership will create opportunity to provide all banking services to this segment across the length and breadth of the country.”
