ICICI Bank introduces ‘iStartup2.0’, the country’s most comprehensive programme
for start-ups
·
Offers
banking services and beyond
·
Beyond banking services help entrepreneurs set up firm and digitise
rapidly
·
Integration
with MCA website to enable
startups to apply for Current Account online immediately after incorporation of
company
ICICI Bank
announces the launch of a programme for startups that takes care of their
banking as well as beyond-banking needs such as regulatory assistance,
analytics, staffing, accounting, customer acquisition and digital outreach to
customers, among others.
Named ‘iStartup2.0’, the country’s most comprehensive
programme, offers customers an eponymous Current Account which is available in
three variants--Platinum, Gold and Silver-- the widest range by any Bank for
start-ups. New businesses (up to 10 years old) including partnerships, private
and public limited companies as well as limited liability partnerships can opt
for the Current Account. Further, startups can seamlessly open an account and get the account
number instantly at the time of incorporation as the Bank has integrated its
APIs with the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
It offers significant convenience to founders/entrepreneurs as it saves time
and efforts since they don’t have to fill details again to apply for an
account. As further convenience, the Bank sends an official to startups at a
time of their choice to verify the original documents for KYC.
Other benefits of this Current Account include
availability of a dedicated Relationship Manager, premium savings account for
promoters and salary accounts for employees and waiver of quarterly average
balance for a year. Additionally, startups can customise and choose the
facilities required in their account and use the single account for both
domestic and international trade transactions with preferential pricing, both
industry first services.
The beyond-banking services are available under an
umbrella, named ‘Startup Assist’ that
offers services, in association with partners, to help
startups in their early stage as well as growth stage. Typically, start-ups spend a lot of time and
bandwidth to reach out to individual service providers. With ‘Startup Assist’,
they get the convenience of single-point access to a host of services. It
consists of a ‘Set-up’
concierge, which gives them access to an array of experts at a discounted price to help the
start up with complex services like company registration, taxation, compliance,
logistics, facility management among others.
Additionally, for start-ups wanting to expand business
digitally in the virtual world, a ‘Digital concierge’ is available. It offers a one-stop solution for services
ranging from website development & hosting, social media marketing, SEO
& SEM among others, thus making the digital transformation of a start
simpler and easier. All of these services are available through a dedicated concierge
helpline or via an app or an email. Further, the Bank has tied up with various
other companies to bring in attractive offers on solutions for instance on
‘Work-From-Home’, IT hardware deals, web-hosting, accounting software, telecom
packages, printing and stationery among others.
With the above array of
services, ‘iStartup 2.0’ offers a 360-degree holistic and most comprehensive
proposition for startups with a combination of banking and beyond banking
services across their life stages in a single place.
Speaking about the initiative,
Mr. Pankaj Gadgil, Head- Self Employed Segment, ICICI Bank said, “The MSME & self-employed segment in India is the
backbone of the economy. Within this, we foresee that the startup segment in
the country is poised for rapid growth with favourable regulations in the
ecosystem and high spirit of entrepreneurship. We believe that ‘iStartup 2.0’
is the most comprehensive programme available in the country. It offers them
unprecedented convenience of getting on-boarded with us instantly in a digital
manner during incorporation with MCA. It undertakes all business, trade and personal
banking requirements within this one relationship and transact digitally using
the robust mobile and internet banking platforms on-the-go.
Our research shows that startups also need immense
hand-holding initially for other areas of business like website development,
digital marketing, staffing solutions, regulatory and tax solutions and
accounting. Armed with this insight, we have tied up with companies who are
leaders in their fields to offer services under ‘Startup Assist’. It
provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for nearly all the early stage as well as
growth stage needs of a startup. We believe that this ‘all-in-one’ and
comprehensive iStartup 2.0 programme will provide easy banking and beyond-
banking services to start ups, free up their bandwidth from paper-intensive
procedures and thus boost their business growth by improving overall
productivity and efficiency.”
The other key prominent features of the ‘iStartup 2.0’
programme are:
Banking features:
·
Access
to state-of-the-art ‘InstaBIZ’ mobile application: With over 150 services, this
comprehensive mobile app enables businesses to complete almost all their
banking transactions digitally, without visiting a bank branch. It offers many
industry first features namely instant payment of GST, easy bulk collection
& payments of funds through multiple modes, automatic bank reconciliation
and inward/outward remittances among others.
·
Availability
of Corporate Internet Banking platform and Trade Online, a specialised digital
platform for export-import transactions
·
Automatic
bank reconciliation feature via ‘Connected Banking’ with over 40 popular
accounting / ERP platforms
·
Business
debit card and FD backed business credit cards
·
Preferential
pricing on ‘Loan Against Securities’ and ‘Overdraft facility against Fixed
Deposit’
·
Zero
processing fee and commitment charges on Fixed Deposits / Overdrafts
·
Group
Health & Personal Accident cover
‘Beyond Banking’ features with
‘Startup Assist’:
·
Start-up set up concierge: Especially curated to assist startups in set up stage.
Offers single point service to startups at a special discounted price for ICICI
Bank customers. They can get access to services like company registration,
taxation, compliance, logistics, facility management among others through a
dedicated concierge helpline or via an app or an email
·
Digital concierge: Useful
for start-ups wanting to expand digital business. It offers a one-stop solution
ranging from website development & hosting, social media marketing, SEO
& SEM among others. The digital packages come with a host of benefits for
ICICI Bank customers at an exclusive discounted price offered by a partner
through a dedicated helpdesk & mobile app.
·
Additional offers: For
attractive discounts on solutions for ‘Work-From-Home’, IT hardware package
deals on purchase of laptops consisting of free accessories like printer,
hard disk & monitor. Also offers exclusive packages at an attractive
price for ICICI Bank customers with a leading accounting software, website
hosting company and for cloud services among others. Further, they also get
exclusive packages for advertising with a leading online streaming network with
complimentary additional advertising value.
Any
start-up can apply for the ‘iStartup 2.0’ programme, whether or not ICICI Bank
customer. The promoters can apply digitally for the iStartup Current Account
either from the MCA website during incorporation or visit https://www.icicibank.com/ business-banking/current- account/start-up-current- account.html?ITM=nli_business_ static_1_istartup_d or SMS
‘STARTUP’
to 5676766. They can also visit their nearest ICICI Bank branch.
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