Modi to launch India Post Payments Bank on August 21

The Department of Posts was one of the 11 entities to get the in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India in 2015 for setting up a payments bank.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on August 21.

The event will take place at the capital's Talkatora stadium.

The bank is running pilot services in Raipur and Ranchi. It will tie up with other banks and financial companies to offer loans, mutual funds and insurance policies, said sources.

The Department of Posts was one of the 11 entities to get the in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2015 for setting up a payments bank. Many private firms such as Airtel, Fino, Paytm, etc, have launched these services.

But IPPB missed the September 2017 deadline to open 650 branches because it failed to get a system integrator (SI) on board.

IPPB would become one of the largest banking networks in India. India Post has 154,000 post offices, of which 139,000 are in rural areas.

The government is planning to utilise 650 branches to serve as controlling offices for servicing and monitoring post offices.

These branches will be linked to IPPB by the end of this year.

An account holder can deposit up to Rs 100,000, withdraw cash, and make payments just like a savings bank account in any other commercial bank.

However, to overcome the limitation of Rs 100,000, the bank has received permission to link around 17 crore post office saving banks (POSB) account.

Whenever a deposit in IPPB account exceeds Rs 100,000, it can be transferred to POSB.

There are 37 crore different types of accounts at post offices, which will be linked to IPPB gradually, according to sources.

The IPPB will also provide doorstep banking services. These will be chargeable.

There are around 250,000 dak sevaks and another 50,000 postmen available in the network.

Initially, 11,000 postmen will provide these services and later more employees will be roped in, sources said.

Photograph: PTI Photo