NEW DELHI: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said he expects Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to grant payment licence
to the proposed Post Bank of India by August.
This will enable the network of
1,54,000 post offices (including 1,30,000 rural post offices) to offer banking
services to the masses in the country.
"We expect RBI
to give payment bank licence to post (department) in August," Minister of
Communications and IT Prasad said.
In last one year, the Department of Post (DoP) has networked 27,215
post offices into one national unit through computers.
The DoP, which has applied for a
payment bank licence, has a hybrid model in mind to operate Post Bank of India.
As per RBI guidelines, payment banks
would offer a limited range of products such as demand deposits and
remittances. They will not be allowed to undertake lending activities and will
initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per
individual customer.
They will be allowed to issue ATM or
debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not credit cards.
According to a source, Prasad has
approved hybrid model suggested by Ernst & Young which prepared detailed
project report on Post Bank of India (PBI).
"E&Y has come out with
three models but suggested preference to a hybrid model. Under which about 600
branches will be directly operated by PBI staff in post office premises and
transactions in other parts of the country will be supported by India post staff," a post bank official
said.
Post Bank of India is proposed to
have its own employees and IT infrastructure. The transaction handled by India
Post, employees will be entered in to the server of PBI.
The Department expects revenue of
over Rs 550 crore from PBI in first five years.
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