The entire direct benefit
transfer (DBT) scheme for distribution of government subsidy is likely to be
handled by the Post Bank - the new payments bank which will be under the
Department of Posts.
"Earlier initial capital approval sought for
setting up Post Bank was about Rs 300 crore which has been increased to Rs 800
crore as there is proposal now that entire DBT scheme should be handled by it
as well as saving accounts currently handled by DoP should also be moved under
it," an official source told PTI.
Public Investment Board ( PIB) will consider this
proposal in its meeting on January 15 and then send its recommendation to
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for final approval, the official
said.
The Reserve Bank of India has granted Payments
Bank permit to the postal department, which has 1.55 lakh branches across
country and already provides financial services.
Pilot for the Payments Bank is set to start from
January 2017 while full-fledged operations are to start from March 7,
2017.
Under DBT scheme government directly transfer
subsidies in to bank account of people eligible for it. Subsidies of around
35-40 government schemes are covered under it including that provided on
domestic LPG connections.
As per official data, till December 27 around Rs
40,000 crore was directly reaching the beneficiaries through various
schemes.
As many as 40 international financial
conglomerates, including World Bank and Barclays, have shown interest to
partner with Postal Department for the payments bank.
The DoP has shortlisted six consultants including
McKinsey, KPMG, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The postal
department expects to finalise consultant for setting up of payment banks by
end of this month.
At the end March 2015, the DoP housed around 20
lakh saving accounts which held total deposit of about Rs 47,800 crore. The
payment bank wing of DoP is also proposed to manage these accounts.
As per RBI guidelines, payments banks would offer
a limited range of products such as demand deposits and remittances.
They will, however, 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.
Source : The Economic Times
