India's largest private sector bank gives a big thumbs up to Tablets

India’s largest private bank ICICI bank which rolled out 25 new electronic branches in 18 locations across the country on Thursday also launched tablet based banking where a customer can open an account at his or her home or office.

“Using a tablet equipped with mobile connectivity, our executive can scan the relevant KYC documents and click a picture of the customer, thereby doing away with the need for the customer to visit a branch,” the company said in a statement. Tab Banking has been rolled out in nine locations.

What’s really important is the backend integration at this scale, which we certainly believe will have other enterprises revisit their tablet strategy.

The bank also launched other services like Banking on the move where it will use a point of sale terminal with in-built GPRS and Wi-Fi connnectivity to carry out transactions in remote locations. The Indian government has been pushing financial inclusion in rural areas and encouraging the use of such devices to bring largely excluded rural India into the financial system.

The Bank has also introduced e-Locker, a virtual online locker for its wealth customers. The locker is available through its internet banking platform for customers who want to store electronically scanned copies of important documents like legal agreements, policy documents, degree certificates and bank statements in various formats.

Looks like one more reason not to treat India as a technology dumping yard?