Ranchi: India Post, Jharkhand, will
become the first in the country to open a bank branch India Post
Payments Bank (IPPB) in January.
The basic preparations in terms of infrastructure, manpower and training have been completed.
The move to came after Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced that all post offices should be
converted to banks by January next year. The IPPB was incorporated as a
public limited company, under the department of posts, Government of
India, in August 2015 with 100% government equity.
Postmaster General, Jharkhand
circle, Anil Kumar said that the first bank branch will begin operations
at GPO, Doranda, for which a separate building has been constructed.
"Once the GPO branch becomes functional, all other post offices in the
state will also start functioning," Kumar said.
There are more than 2,800 India
Post offices across the state and the number is likely to be increased
to 3,400. "In addition, we have over 100 panchayat seva kendras (PSK)
and over 4,000 postmen who can work as business correspondents," Kumar
said.
The postmen are being provided with
PoS machines. Officials will not only receive money for deposits and
disburse payments but will also open new accounts, sell insurance
instruments and register money orders. At present, the postal department
has issued kits to over 2,700 post offices, which includes a biometric
device, printer and a tab for digital transactions.
Kumar said that more than 500
people have already been trained on financial inclusion tools, the usage
of PoS machines and briefed on the functioning of post offices as
business correspondents. "We have hired experts from Infosys and Rico
for training our staff and the training is going on in Ranchi and
Jamshedpur," Kumar said.
India Post has also issued debit
cards to saving account holders in post offices and once the banking
facility begins, more debit cards will be issued. "It will work as
full-fledged banks in the wake of the existing robust infrastructures in
the remote corners of the state," Kumar said.
Out of 456 post offices, 358 have
already been brought on the CBS platform and this is all set to boost
the banking structure of Jharkhand post offices once the headquarter
branch becomes operational.
source: Times of India
December 24, 2016
Secretary, FNPO Tirunelveli
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