New Delhi: India Post will launch its payment bank by March 2017, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said yesterday. As many as 40 international financial conglomerates, including World Bank and Barclays, have shown interest to partner with Postal Department for the payment bank, Prasad said on the sidelines of an event on Good Governance.
"We will start the postal payment bank by March 2017," the Minister said. The Reserve Bank granted in-principle approval to 11 applicants, including Postal Department, in August to set up payments banks.
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology is celebrating Good Governance Week, from December 25, 2015. The Minister also launched 23 products and services including Wi-Fi hotspots at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar and Dargah Sharif, Ajmer and BPO promotion scheme, among others, on the occasion.
He said after the successful turnaround of BSNL, new initiatives have been taken for improving performance of MTNL also. Besides, Prasad announced the launch of free incoming all over the country by MTNL from next year.
Regarding the BharatNet project, the Minister said as of December 20, about 79,593 kilometres of optical fibre has been laid in 33,702 gram panchayats. "By March, we will reach 50,000 gram panchayats and one lakh gram panchayats by the end of next year," he said.
Prasad also reiterated the commitment of the government towards the implementation of 'Digital India' programme.
India News Desk
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Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Inaugurates Good Governance Week Celebration
23 New Products Launched
Payment Bank to Begin from March 2017
23 New Products Launched
Payment Bank to Begin from March 2017
A week-long celebration of Good Governance Week was organized by Department of Electronics and Information Technology starting from 25th December 2015. A National event on Good Governance was inaugurated on 28th December 2015 by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Hon’ble Minister of Communications & Information Technology (MoCIT) in India Habitat Centre at New Delhi. This event involved active participation from Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Department of Posts (DoP) and their agencies.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterated the commitment of the Government towards the successful implementation of ‘Digital India’ which would help to transform India into a truly digitally empowered society and knowledge economy in the 21st century. He said the government is aiming at empowering people of India through digitalization. Millions of citizens have already joined in this initiative and invited others to do so. He said e-services should reach more people at the earliest and sought cooperation from State Governments, industry and acadmecia in the early achievement of this objective.
Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad also announced that India Post would be launching Payment Banking by March 2017. He said after the successful turn around of BSNL, new initiatives have been taken for improving performance of MTNL. He also announced launch of free incoming all over the Country by MTNL from New Year.
The event saw the launch / inauguration of new 23 products / eServices.
The key launches are as follows:
Department of Telecommunications
· Inauguration of Wi-Fi hotspots at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar and Dargah Sharif, Ajmer.
· Announcement of Pan India Free Incoming Roaming Facility for MTNL Customers.
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Department of Posts
· Launch of Post-Terminals (Rural ICT - RICT) – handing over Post Terminals to rural Post Masters.
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Department of Electronics and Information Technology
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· Launch of National Centre of Geo-Informatics
· Launch of e-Payment Portal
· Launch of Olabs for Schools
· Launch of Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Phase-II
· All India BPO Promotion Scheme
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· North East Business Process Outsourcing Promotion Scheme
· Transfer of Technology for “ICT Centre on Tactile Graphics” at IIT Delhi
· Announcement of Setting up of NIC Data Centre at Bhubaneswar
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* The detail on each of 23 new products / eservices is available at the Digital India Portal (www.digitalindia.gov.in).
The awards for best performing States/Districts during the Digital India Week event (1st July – 7th July, 2015) were given to:
a. State level – Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
b. District level – 77 Districts across 29 States/UTs.
PIB