Customer needs to enter his/her Aadhaar number followed by the Aadhaar OTP to confirm online PPF account opening.
ICICI Bank has announced the launch of a digital service that enables the bank's customers to open a Public Provident Fund (PPF) account instantly, in a completely online and paperless manner. With this new facility, customers of the bank are no longer required to visit a branch and submit physical documents to open a PPF account. They can now conveniently open a PPF account anytime, anywhere using the bank's digital channels of internet and mobile banking. PPF is one of the most popular small savings schemes and currently fetches an interest rate of 7.8 per cent.
ICICI Bank said it has worked closely with the Ministry of Finance to offer a completely online proposition for opening a PPF account. ICICI Bank is the first in the country to introduce a fully digital and paperless procedure for opening a PPF account, the bank said. Apart from post offices, many banks, including SBI and ICICI, offer PPF facilities.
Here is how to open PPF account instantly through ICICI Bank's internet banking:
1) Login into the bank's retail internet banking account: Customer needs to login to his/her retail internet banking account > Click on open PPF account in 'My Accounts' section
2) Confirm details and deposit amount: The customer is required to confirm auto populated details like PAN, address among others and enter initial deposit amount. He/she can also choose to add more money to the account via a monthly standing instruction.
3) Authenticate using Aadhaar: Customer needs to enter his/her Aadhaar number followed by the Aadhaar OTP to confirm online PPF account opening.
On submission of the above, the customer's PPF account is created instantly within a few seconds. The account number of PPF is displayed instantly to the customer. For the convenience of customers, the statement of transaction as well as the annual statement of the PPF account is available on internet banking. Customers can follow similar steps to open the PPF account from their mobile banking as well.
Customers can also transfer funds online to PPF account via linked savings account and view account statement online.
