ICICI Bank, Phone Pe collaborated to provide credit line on UPI for customers

New Delhi: ICICI Bank and PhonePe have entered a partnership to offer a credit line on UPI to Bengaluru-based fintech major customers. Pre-approved customers on the PhonePe app can avail of a short-term credit line from ICICI Bank up to Rs 2 lakh with a 45-day repayment period.

The bank's partnership with PhonePe, the largest player on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), comes at a time when the platform records transactions worth approximately Rs 200 crore every month. PhonePe’s market share on UPI is 49 percent, with the second-largest player, Google Pay, processing about 38 percent of the total transaction volumes in the country.

“Credit line on UPI is yet another innovative product offering that will unlock and revolutionize access to and use of credit in the country. At PhonePe, we are focused on maximizing the reach and availability of this product, and this partnership with ICICI Bank is a key milestone in that journey,” said Deep Agrawal, head of payments, at PhonePe.

This is the company’s first partnership with any lender to offer the service.

“At the anvil of the festive season, the pre-approved customers of ICICI Bank can activate the credit line instantly to make payments for their festive shopping needs on PhonePe. Aimed at providing seamless digital credit, this offering is likely to play an important role in the personal banking experience of our customers,” said Niraj Tralshawala, product head - of payment solutions, at ICICI Bank.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the ‘credit line on UPI’ service last year. It offers low-ticket, high-volume retail loans to individuals and businesses.

In addition to ICICI Bank, lenders such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and State Bank of India (SBI) have gone live with this facility.

Among the apps, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), Google Pay, Paytm, PayZapp, Navi, and Tata Neu are live on this product offering.