MUMBAI: ICICI Bank and fintech company Niyo on Thursday announced a tie-up to issue prepaid cards to workers of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). MSMEs will now be able to get ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’ powered by Visa, for their blue-collar workers, who are mostly under-banked. With this, MSMEs can upload the salaries of their workers on the card, which the workers can then utilise as per their need in a seamless manner.

The ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’ allows an individual to receive funds upto Rs 1 lakh into the card account. It offers convenience and safety of digital banking to the blue-collar workforce, while providing salary disbursement solution to the employers.

This partnership with ICICI Bank is in line with Niyo’s mission to revolutionise banking experience for India’s blue-collar workforce. With this, Niyo has announced its goal of reaching 5 million blue-collar workers in the next 5 years with its flagship product Niyo Bharat. Niyo Bharat currently has over 1.7 million customers and relationships with over 7000 corporates, adding nearly 5000 customers every day.

Speaking on the initiative, Sudipta Roy, Head – Unsecured Assets, ICICI Bank said in a statement, “We at ICICI Bank constantly strive to introduce facilities that foster inclusivity and extend the reach of the formal banking ecosystem. In line with this, we are delighted to partner with Niyo for the ‘ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card’. This partnership is yet another initiative by us to make banking products easily accessible to the underbanked population. We believe that armed with this card, workers of MSMEs will be able to enjoy the convenience and safety of digital banking.”

Any MSME can tie-up with Niyo to avail the prepaid card. After the tie-up, cards are issued to the workers at their workplace itself while their KYC verification is done simultaneously using a bio-metric device. Once activated, workers can use the card to withdraw funds at ATMs, make online transactions on e-commerce portals and make payment by swiping the card at Point of Sale (PoS) machines.

Niyo Co-founder and CEO Vinay Bagri said, “The Niyo Bharat Digital Salary Solution has the potential to bring millions of blue collared salaried workforces into the formal economy and also support the nation’s successful march towards Digital India. Our primary objective is to provide digital banking solutions for the blue-collar segment to not only foster financial inclusion but also inculcate a long-term saving habit among them.”

To further facilitate the cardholders, Niyo offers a multilingual app called ‘Niyo Bharat Mobile app’. Workers can download this app from Google Play Store and register themselves. The app will enable them to transfer funds, pay bills or do recharges online. It also allows them to block/unblock the card which provides them control of their card security. The cardholders also get a free accidental death insurance cover.

Niyo’s 24 x 7 customer service team caters to issues arising at any hour of the day via a multilingual captive call center facility.

Darpan Sharma, Business Head-Niyo Bharat said, “Partnership with ICICI Bank is a milestone in our journey to provide best in class service to the underbanked blue collar segment. The partnership will create opportunity to provide all banking services to this segment across the length and breadth of the country”

Leveraging technology for payroll, employee benefits, card based payments, credit and savings, Niyo provides an integrated solution comprising a digital account in addition to the Bharat mobile app supported by a comprehensive corporate portal, it assists organisations in digitizing the benefits and payroll process. It strives to deliver a frictionless employee experience.

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Small Biz-Economic Times