Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on Saturday, and said the move would take banking services to the unbanked rural areas across the country.
“The India Post Payments Bank will further the process of financial inclusion which started with the launch of Jan Dhan Yojana launched in 2014,” the PM said at the launch.
He added: “The Indian Postal Department has 1.5 lakh post offices and more than 3 lakh postmen. We have taken the onerous task of linking such an extensive system with technology to build the most powerful system. Now the postman is equipped with a smartphone and has a digital device in his bag.”
The Union cabinet had earlier this week approved revision of the project outlay from Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,435 crore, according to an official statement.
Here is everything you want to know about the India Post Payments Bank or IPPB — broken down into 10 points.
- To start with, the payments bank will initially provide current and savings account facility at 650 post offices and 3,250 access points.
- By December 2018, the number of access points or branches will go up to 1.55 lakh — 1.30 lakh of them in rural areas.
- There will be 10,000+ doorstep service providers, and a 24×7 multilingual customer support system. To book a doorstep service, you can call toll-free number 155299 or contact the nearest post office.
- Account holders of the Post Office Savings Bank can avail IPPB services by linking their accounts.
- People can open their accounts in the bank “in less than a minute” through Aadhaar cards, and the account holders will be provided a Quick Response (QR) card, using which along with their biometrics they can authorise transactions.
- Services at the bank will include current account, savings account, remittances, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, enterprise and merchant payment.
- All the services will be available through counter services, micro ATM, mobile banking applications, SMS and Interactive Voice Response.
- There will be some charges if you opt for doorstep services for savings and current accounts. Rs 25 per transaction will be charged for cash withdrawal or deposit, and Rs 15 will be charged for non-cash transactions.
- Farmers and daily wage earners under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme can receive their claims through the payments bank.
- IPPB has tied up with Punjab National Bank to work as an agent to provide loans to account holders, without charging any commission. Interest on loans would be the rate PNB charges.