All 1.55 Lakh Post Offices in India to Offer Payments Bank Service by 2018

IPPB will use Aadhaar as payment address of an individual, indicating that the postal bank may bring the transaction charge close to 1 paisa.

New Delhi, September 15: All 1.55 lakh post offices and every postman and ‘grameen dak sevak‘ in India will be equipped with a device that will provide full range of payment solutions. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is now gearing up to provide its financial services through all of 1.55 lakh post offices and 3 lakh employees by the end of 2018. Also, 1,000 ATMs of India Post will be transferred to IPPB. The India Post, incorporated as a public sector bank under the Department of Posts with 100% government of India equity, was launched on January 30, 2017. In January this year, Airtel Payments Bank was launched in the private space. It started operations with a network of 2.5 lakh merchants.

As per reports, India Post Payments Bank offers an interest rate of 4.5 per cent on deposits up to Rs 25,000, 5 per cent on Rs 25,000-50,000 and 5.5 per cent on Rs. 50,000-1,00,000. It also provides current accounts and access to third party financial services like insurance, mutual funds, pension, and more, its website adds. Reports state that payments banks can accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh per account from individuals and small businesses.

At an event organised by United Nations on Financial Inclusion, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Chief Executive Officer A P Singh said, “We will have post bank footprint in every district by March 2018, and before the end of the calendar year, all 1.55 lakh post offices and every postman and grameen dak sevak, which is another 3 lakh, will be equipped with a device which will provide full range of payment solutions that we will be hosting”.

IPPB, according to Singh, will use Aadhaar as payment address of an individual, indicating that the postal bank may bring the transaction charge close to 1 paisa. “We will convert it (Aadhaar) into payment address. We will get this activated by offering a host of payment services,” Singh was quoted by PTI. At present, private players and even public banks charge transaction fee even on digital payments, depending on the nature of the transaction.