HDFC Bank’s Digital Innovations unit has created an omni-experience initiative with three services: Missed Call Commerce, HDFC Bank OnChat, and HDFC Bank LITE App. It leverages traditional and digital forms of communication to drive an enhanced banking experience, while simultaneously enabling ‘non-digital’ consumers to transact and interact with the bank via mobile phones. Missed Call Commerce allows users to recharge their mobile phones by giving a missed call to a number after a one-time SMS registration process. OnChat provides social commerce services on and runs on natural language processing; customers can recharge prepaid phones or pay utility bills by just providing mobile number and customer account number, or book a cab from Ola and Uber after a one-time link to their accounts.
The HDFC Bank LITE App does not require an internet connection to be used as communication takes place over SMS or the Missed Call Banking Platform, providing access to customers in remote areas. To date, services like Missed Call Recharge and LITE App have empowered financially-excluded segments who do not have access to the internet and Mobile Banking services, with more than 55% (around 227,000) of recharge transactions initiated from rural and semi-urban areas.