ICICI, Tech Mahindra Launch Tap-n-Pay NFC-Enabled Payment Service

Largest private sector lender ICICI Bank in collaboration with Tech Mahindra launched a payment service 'Tap-n-Pay' based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology, enabling customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash.

It can be used for merchant payments by tapping an NFC-enabled mobile phone or a tag on a participating merchant's counter.

The service is a closed-end one, only for a close group of customers, like canteen payments at the work place, and not universal like a debit or credit card, the banks said in a statement, adding the merchant will have to first register for the service and then enroll customers for using it.

The account, christened 'Tap-n-Pay', has been launched in association with Tech Mahindra, will help reduce dependence on cash.

Any person having any bank account, and not limited to ICICI customers, can avail the service, the statement said, adding a user will have to avail the NFC tag or configure it on the mobile phone.

For making payments, the user will have to bring the NFC tag or the mobile phone near a device at the merchant's facility and the amount will automatically get debited from the prepaid account, without keying-in any code.

The bank's executive director Rajeev Sabharwal said a customer doesn't have to do any documentation or visit a branch to register for the service.

"The synergies between the two partners (ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra) will bring about a new payments ecosystem, parallel to, and yet in harmony with, the existing payment networks in the country," Tech Mahindra managing director and chief executive CP Gurnani said.