All post offices to be computerised by 2017

India Posts is the largest postal network in the world and provides access to affordable services to all citizens in the country through its vast network. Out of 1.55 lakh post offices, 1.39 lakh are in rural areas and the remaining 15,736 in urban areas.

Over 1.55 lakh post offices in the country would be computerised by next year with an outlay of Rs 4,909 crore under the IT Modernisation Project of the Department of Posts. "At present, the project is at implementation stage and is likely to be completed by 2017," the Economic Survey 2015-16 tabled in Parliament today said.

The project involves computerisation and networking of all post offices. Besides, it envisages networking and computerisation of all mail offices, accounts offices and administrative offices in the country, including approximately 1,30,000 branch post offices in rural areas run by 'gramin dak sevaks'.

A total of 27,736 departmental post offices, including mail offices and administrative offices, have been networked and connected to a data centre, the survey said. "It is the largest single organisation WAN (wide area network) in the country.

A data centre has been established at Navi Mumbai and has been functioning since April 2013, while a disaster recovery centre has been operationalised in May 2015," it said.

India Posts is the largest postal network in the world and provides access to affordable services to all citizens in the country through its vast network.

Out of 1.55 lakh post offices, 1.39 lakh are in rural areas and the remaining 15,736 in urban areas. Under the project, Core Banking Services have been rolled out in 17,600 post offices and ATMs have been installed in 510 locations.

Core Insurance Solution (CIS-PLI) has been rolled out in 25,406 post offices.

The Department of Posts has also launched pilot project of Rural information and communication technology (ICT) in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on December 28, 2015.

The DoP plays a crucial role in disbursing wages to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries. Nearly 6.92 crore MGNREGS accounts have been opened in post offices up to December 2015, the survey said. "Towards financial inclusion, the number of post office savings bank (POSB) accounts has increased from 30.86 crore to 33.97 crore," it said.

Total deposits in these accounts and cash certificates stood at Rs 6.53 lakh crore, the survey added.

More than 80 lakh Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana accounts have been opened with a cumulative investment of more than Rs 2,900 crore since the launch of the scheme on January 22, 2015.

Apart from this, more than 1.84 crore kisan vikas patras have been sold, attracting an investment of more than Rs 16,429 crore since launch on November 18, 2014, the survey said.

Source : http://www.moneycontrol.com/