Indian ride hailing giant Ola, announced that it is partnering with one of the top private sector banks in the country, ICICI Bank to provide customers and driver-partners with a host of integrated services. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to finalise the deal.

As per a statement released by Ola, customers of ICICI Bank will now be able to book Ola taxis and pay the fare on the bank’s online mobile platforms – iMobile and Pockets.

Furthermore, Ola’s customers will have access to instant small digital credit through real- time assessment from ICICI Bank. The entire process for the same will be digitalised; hence no paperwork will be required. In addition to this, the bank will also offer Ola’s drivers a “Pay Direct” card so that their daily earnings can directly deposited into their “Pay Direct” card accounts. The drivers will also be able to use these cards to make purchases at merchant outlets as well.

“Mobility and Banking, both play a key role in fostering inclusive growth and creating lasting development benefits. This alliance will provide increased convenience to customers on both the platforms, as well as hundreds of thousands of driver partners,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola, in a statement.

“These new propositions will help Ola’s driver-partners to manage their finances in a better way , while also enable customers of Ola to get easy access to instant credit in a simple and secured manner. Furthermore , ICICI bank customers will get the dual benefit of booking a cab and making payments directly through their “iMobile” and “Pockets” applications,” Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank was quoted saying.

ICICI Bank will also launch a co-branded credit card in association with Ola to enhance customer experience by offering exclusive cashbacks and accelerated rewards points on the card.

(Picture courtesy: ssrana.in)