Open online PPF account at ICICI Bank; Here's how you can do it

Private lender ICICI Bank on Thursday launched the country's first fully digital and paperless procedure for opening a Public Provident Fund (PPF) account.
 
Customers at ICICI Bank will no longer require to visit a branch and submit documents to open a PPF account. Instead, they can now conveniently open a PPF account anytime, anywhere using the bank’s digital channels of internet and mobile banking.
 
Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, "At ICICI Bank, our philosophy is ‘Ready For You. Ready For Tomorrow’, wherein we are committed to offer innovative products and services to our customers at the fastest possible speed and with the highest level of convenience."
 
"We are delighted to have worked closely with the Ministry of Finance to create an online proposition for instant creation of a PPF account, removing the requirement of a customer having to visit a branch to submit documents," Bagchi added.
 
Available 24x7 and on all days, customers can login to internet banking or mobile banking and apply for a PPF account conveniently in just a few steps.
 
How it works on internet banking:

• 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
• 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.
• Authenticate using Aadhaar: Customer needs to enter his/her Aadhaar number followed by the Aadhaar OTP to confirm online PPF account opening.

After submission of the above details, the customer’s PPF account is created instantly within a few seconds, and will see their account number displayed instantly.
 
Access to the statement of transaction along with the annual statement of PPF account is available on the portal. Customers can follow similar steps to open the PPF account from their mobile banking as well.
 
It includes opening & servicing of PPF account at any ICICI Bank branch, transfer of funds online to PPF account via linked savings account and availability of account statement online.