Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank is working to launch a revamped mobile application for Kotak811, its digital banking arm, and another application offering payment services, sources close to the development told Moneycontrol. This is part of the bank’s strategy to go aggressive in the digital banking space amid tight competition from rivals.
“Currently, the 811 application is in the testing stage and the beta version of the application is available on Google Play Store and Apple Store. The official launch will be in a month or so,” sources said. “The application will be like a branch built in an application which will have credit card, account opening and all other services under it,” they said.
Kotak811 was launched on November 8, 2017, as a digital bank within Kotak Mahindra Bank. According to the website of Kotak811, the senior management includes Manish Agarwal – Business Head, Kotak811, Shanti Ekambaram, Whole-Time Director and Group President, Consumer Banking, Jay Kotak, Co Head, Kotak811, and Srikrishna Moorthy, Vice-President, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The latest numbers showed that the lender’s digital business saw 95 percent of personal loans disbursal, 99 percent of credit card sales and 79 percent of new business in the October-December quarter of FY24.
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A payments application
Additionally, the bank is also looking at launching a new payments application. “This application will cater to all the payment services like UPI, bank transfers payments, etc. The end goal is to enhance customer experience and services,” sources said.
The latest numbers showed that the bank recorded a 2.2 times growth in UPI transactions, 1.4 times growth in pay-you- contact transactions and 1.2 times growth in UPI acquiring volume.
Data on the website of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that Kotak Mahindra Bank Applications ranked 9th for UPI transactions in March 2024. Other banks’ applications which were in the top ten include Axis Bank Applications at 5th, ICICI Bank Applications at 7th and HDFC Bank Applications at 10th. Sources added that the payments application will have a very easy to use interface. “The payments application will have all the payment options and the user will be able to do payments in two clicks,” they said.
Digital journey
On April 16, the bank’s technical servers experienced disruptions, with several customers taking to social media to complain about issues with payments or transactions on the mobile app, ATMs and net banking. “We regret to inform you that our technical servers are currently experiencing intermittent slowness. We are working diligently to resolve the issue and restore services as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding,” the bank said in a statement.
The new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD and CEO) of the bank, Ashok Vaswani, in his maiden appearance to the media, said that the digital stack of India will be a very significant opportunity for the bank.
“The thing about India which is really truly transformative is the digital stack that has been built here. I believe that the digital stack has transformed the country in more ways than just meets the eye. This will continue to be a very significant opportunity and a change agent for the country and for us,” Vaswani said.
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Other banks such as HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), are also working on boosting their payments application. SBI is planning to launch a revamped version of You Only Need One (YONO), viz. YONO 2.0. “We are embarking upon YONO 2.0 where we have the garage system, and we’re probably as nimble as any other fintech,” SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said at at SBI’s Banking and Economics Conclave on December 27, 2023.
And HDFC Bank is working on all-round marketing and promotion of its payments business. “We have got interest across all customer segments and PayZapp is an important tool,“ said Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), HDFC Bank in a post results press conference on April 20.
