India Post Payments Bank targets 1.55 Lakh outlets by September 2017

In a written response to questions in Parliament by Members of Parliament Pashupati Nath Singh and Ninong Ering, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said that the India Post Payments Bank, as of the end of January 2017, was operational only with 8 access points in total, in Raipur (Chhatisgarh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand). The Payments Bank intends to set up access points in post offices in up to 650 districts with linkages to all post offices (around 1.55 lakh of them) across India, by September 2017, “subject to feasibility and fulfillment of regulatory requirements.”

Remember that AP Singh, interim managing director and CEO of the India Posts Payments Bank had said that it intends to allow sending money from one Aadhaar number to another, and Aadhaar will be made a payment address which can work with or without a bank account linked to it. However, the payments bank does offer bank accounts of three types: Safal, which is a regular account, with a maintenance fee of Rs 100 from the second year, and Sugam and Saral which are basic savings deposit accounts. Sugam accounts have a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh. Saral account has a maximum balance of Rs 50,000. 

According to the filing, the India Post Payments Bank has issued 1619 Debit Cards so far: around 832 in Jharkhand and 787 in Chhatisgarh. While the Payments Bank hasn’t installed any ATMs, the Department of Posts has around 976 ATMs in rural India. The Minister stated that the Payments Bank has had “preliminary discussions” for collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (World Bank), but “no formal proposal to this effect has been received.”

Other companies have approached the India Post Payments Bank for collaboration, including “domestic and international financial entities in the field of banking, insurance, international money transfer, mutual funds etc. The Minister shared a list of 98 companies that he said are “keen to partner” with the India Post Payments Bank, which, surprisingly, included Obopay, which we didn’t know was still around, after its disastrous history; I just checked and its investor Elephant Capital’s August 2016 report says that the company “has no value”.

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REVISION OF INTEREST RATES FOR SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES w.e.f 01-04-17 to 30-06-17

MINISTRY OF FINANCE 

DEPARTMENT OF POSTS 

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PAYMENT BANKS - LS Q & A

NOMINATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE STAFF SIDE OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL (JCM) --

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR LEADERS ON THEIR NOMINATION TO NATIONAL COUNCIL (JCM) FOR ENSUING PERIOD OF 3 YEARS.

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LDCE FOR LGOs -- DEPUTATION TO APS FROM POSTMAN/MAILGUARD/MTS TO PA/SA CADRE

ALL PAYMENT SYSTEMS TO REMAIN CLOSED ON APRIL 1, 2017 - RBI

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BACKLOG VACANCIES --

As per information provided by 10 major Ministries/Departments including Public Sector Banks/Financial Institutions, Central Public Sector Undertakings etc., 28,713 vacancies remained unfilled as on 31.12.2016, which comes to about 31% of 92,589 backlog vacancies reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). 

The Government had constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of the then Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment to make an analysis of the reasons for non-filling up of reserved vacancies and to suggest remedial measures. Based on the recommendations of this Committee, Department of Personnel and Training issued instructions in November/December, 2014 to all Ministries / Departments to constitute in-house Committee to identify backlog reserved vacancies, study of the root cause of backlog reserved vacancies, initiation of measures to remove such factors and to fill up the backlog reserved vacancies. 

Various Ministries/Departments have constituted in-house committee and initiated action for filling up of reserved vacancies. 

Department of Personnel and Training monitors the progress in filling up of reserved category vacancies for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes with 10 Ministries/Departments having majority of the employees in Central Government. Six meetings were held in this regard. 

The total number of backlog reserved category vacancies is 28,713 in respect of those 10 Ministries/Departments. 

As per information provided by those 10 Ministries/Departments, 20,975 vacancies for Scheduled Castes, 15,874 vacancies for Scheduled Tribes and 27,027 vacancies for Other Backward Classes have been filled up during the period 01.04.2012 to 31.12.2016. 

These 10 Ministries/Departments have been requested to take expeditious action with regard to the unfilled reserved backlog vacancies. 

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shrimati Neelam Sonker and Shri Dushyant Chautala in the Lok Sabha today. 

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PIB

Instructions for executing End of Year (EOY) in CBS post offices/CPCs

Respected Sir/Madam, 

 The competent authority has taken following decisions for executing End of Year (EOY) activities for 2016-17 in CBS Post Offices/CPCs:- 

1.  On 1.4.2017, no CBS Post Office will do any transaction but staff working on CBS will attend post office and follow instructions (as and when ) issued by CEPT Team Chennai. (A public notice should be put on the notice board of all CBS Post Offices that due to End of Year, no transaction will be accepted on 01.04.2017 and Monthly/Quarterly Interest of MIS/SCSS if due on 1st April 2017 will be paid on 03.04.2017. ATMs will be operational on 01/04/2017). Salary & Pension uploads should be done after completion of EOD for 1st April 2017. 

2. CBS Post Offices should ensure that no unverified account or modification in accounts of SB/PPF/SSA/NSS-87/NSS-92 remains unverified as interest is not calculated for any account if any modification is unverified, as on 31/03/2017. Concerned staff should be alerted so that such lapses may be avoided. 

3.  All CBS Post Offices, on 31.3.2017, should do transactions latest up to 1700 hours and verify all the transactions simultaneously so that there may be no Blocking Transactions at 1700 hours. All CBS Post Offices should complete HISCOD latest by 1800 hours, except those SOLs which await clearing information from the respective HOs. CPCs should monitor this activity and any blocking validation should be reported to FSI Helpdesk and CEPT Team, immediately on noticing so that solution can be provided well in time. 

4. CBS Head Post Office dealing with clearing house, should intimate cheque clearing intimation of the cheques cleared on 31.03.2017 to other linked CBS HOs and SOs well in time on 31.03.2017 either over mail or phone so that credit/debit can be afforded well in time. Late clearance activity and corresponding credits/debits should be handled by the clearing house POs without any delay. (Please note that in case of PPF Accounts maturing on 31.03.2017, cheque cleared before 31.03.2017 will not be allowed to be credited after 31.03.2017)

5.  CEPT FSI Team will be disabling certain menus according to the requirements during EOY Batch execution to control resource utilisation; CPCs will be kept informed from time-to-time on this and should coordinate with their SOLs on this exercise.

6.   Reports regarding Interest credited in SB/SSA/PPF/NSS-87 and NSS-92 accounts of a CBS post office, Silent Account maintenance Fee charged and Total number of accounts marked as silent (total amount and accounts for a Post Office and not account-wise) will be intimated through CPCs by the end of first week of April 2017.

7.  All the concerned teams who are part of the EOY activity (CPC SPOCs, EOD Support Team, CEPT Team) should be available on 2nd April, 2017 and ensure that EOY activity are completed smoothly. 

Instructions for CPCs 

1. CPCs should call post offices under their jurisdiction on 31.03.2017, help in clearing blocking validations and ensure smooth completion of HISCOD. 

2.   HSCOD will be executed by CEPT team centrally; CPC teams should be available till HSCOD is completed for all their respective SOLs. 

3.  All CPCs will remain open during the night of 31.03.2017 and duties of staff should be notified in shifts. 

Circles/Regions/Divisions should ensure that these instructions are followed scrupulously by all CBS Post Offices and CPCs. 

With regards,

Sachin Kishore

Director (CBS)

Sansad Marg,

Dak Bhavan

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Narendra Modi-powered panel proposes India Post revamp to boost e-commerce; Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal set for windfall

A panel of key secretaries, set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has proposed a major “revamp” of India Post to help expand the reach of e-commerce to every corner of the country, official sources told FE.

India Post boasts of more than 1.5 lakh post offices across the nation, with 90% of them located in rural areas—a reach, if encashed properly, can be a potent weapon in revolutionalising e-commerce in the country. (PTI)

A panel of key secretaries, set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has proposed a major “revamp” of India Post to help expand the reach of e-commerce to every corner of the country, official sources told FE. Any such step will not just boost operations of players such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal that are struggling to supply to remote areas due to high logistics costs but also help reverse the sliding fortune of India Post, which was once the lifeline of communications in India.

At present, areas covered by close to a half of the PIN (Postal Index Number) codes in the country are beyond the reach of e-commerce players. While there is no regulatory hurdle for post offices to handle consignments of e-commerce companies now, India Post has to liaise with such players more aggressively, rationalise staff in remote areas and deliver items even faster (at reasonable rates) to be able to grab more orders from them, a senior government official said. “India Post has to firm up a long-term strategy fast and make suitable changes internally to tap e-commerce. It has started taking orders from e-commerce players, but miles to go,” said the official.

The limited reach of e-commerce reflects the serious bottlenecks in providing last-mile deliveries to customers in rural areas, obstructing the growth of the otherwise booming e-commerce sector, the panel has observed in its report submitted with the Prime Minister.

The panel includes secretaries of the departments of commerce, industrial policy and promotion, external affairs, steel, labour, textile, MSME and tourism, and the chairman of the central board of excise and customs. Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia was the rapporteur of the panel, a source said.

In fact, the postal department’s revenues due to cash-on-delivery consignments from e-commerce players jumped to Rs 1,300 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 and just Rs 100 crore in 2013-14, according to official data. It has also tied up with all major e-commerce players in the country. Still, there is a huge scope for India Post to tap the e-commerce boom and improve its revenues, the official added.

However, boosting the reach of e-commerce through India Post will require a massive rationalisation of costs by the state-run communication behemoth. For instance, while the average cost of a delivery by speed post cost it almost Rs 67 in 2015-16, the revenue earned was just Rs 39, showed the data by the postal department. Importantly, while the average cost rose Rs 8 from Rs 59 in 2014-15, the revenue increased by only Rs 2. This means India Post was unable to pass on the rise in costs to customers, partly due to the fact that private players in cities and semi-urban areas are giving it a tough competition. Similarly, while the average cost of a parcel for India Post was Rs 68 in 2015-16, the revenue earned was just Rs 44.

However, the sources said in rural areas, where the penetration of other logistics providers is very low, India Post can be the prime driver of e-commerce.

India Post boasts of more than 1.5 lakh post offices across the nation, with 90% of them located in rural areas—a reach, if encashed properly, can be a potent weapon in revolutionalising e-commerce in the country. On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.23 Sq Km and a population of 8,086 people.

The e-commerce market in India is growing at a brisk pace. Last year, a report by industry body CII and consultancy firm Deloitte forecast that the Indian e-commerce (B2C) market could grow to almost $102 billion by 2020 from just $16 billion in 2015, riding factors such as government initiatives like Digital India, increase in internet penetration, growth in the adoption of smartphones and evolution of new payment solutions, among others. The number of online shopper could rise to 220 million by 2020 from just 39 million in 2015, the report said.

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GDS ONLINE RECRUITMENT - ODISHA CIRCLE

ODISHA CIRCLE - GDS VACANT POSTS TOTAL : 1072

APPLICATION OPENED  ON 27-03-2017

APPLICATION END DATE : 26-04-2016

IPPB - List companies keen to partner with India Post Payments Bank -- RS Q & A

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS

DEPARTMENT OF POSTS    

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2639

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24^TH MARCH, 2017

INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK

2639. SHRI C.M. RAMESH:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a)       when was the concept of India Post Payments Bank mooted;

(b)       the reasons for enormous delay in opening up of this Bank;

(c)        the difference between regular bank and India Post Payments Bank; and

(d)       whether it is a fact that there are companies which are keen to partner with India Post Payments Bank, if so, the details thereon?

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &

 MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b)          Department of Posts (DoP) applied to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during January 2015 for setting up India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).  RBI granted in-principle approval to the Department for Setting up Payments Bank on 7th September 2015 with a guideline to set up the bank within 18 months from the date of issue of the approval. Final License authorizing the bank to carry on Payments Bank business has been obtained from the Reserve Bank of India in terms of Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 on 20/01/2017. The India Post Payments Bank has launched its two branches in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) on 30/01/2017 with basic products and banking services in partnership with Punjab National Bank.

 (c)    Payments Banks are different from regular Banks in the following fundamental   ways as per RBI guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks:

 (i)     Payment Banks are not allowed to undertake lending activities directly.

(ii)    Payment Banks can accept demand deposits only that is savings and current accounts and will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs. 100,000(Rupees one lakh only) per individual customer.

(iii)    Payment Banks cannot accept Non Resident Indian (NRI) deposits.

(iv) The Payment Banks cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake non banking financial services activities.

 (d)      Yes Sir, many companies have approached the Department of Posts for collaboration with India Post Payments Bank. While the Department is in various stages of discussions with them, decision on formal partnerships will be taken after carefully evaluating the entire value proposition that they propose for the common man. A list of companies interested in partnering with India Post Payments Bank is attached at Annexure A.

Annexure A

	List companies keen to partner with India Post Payments Bank.
1	YES Bank
2	Union Bank
3	Punjab National Bank
4	IDBI Bank (Industrial Development Bank of India)
5	SBI (State Bank of India)
6	Axis
7	Bank of Baroda
8	IDFC Bank (Industrial development finance company)
9	Deutshe Bank
10	Barclays Bank
11	Citibank
12	NABARD (National Bank For Agriculture & Rural Development)
13	HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)
14	MICRO SAVE
15	Allahabad Bank
16	Indian Overseas Bank
17	Dena Bank
18	FIA (Financial Inclusion)
19	Kotak Mahindra Bank
20	United Bank of India
21	HDFC Life (Housing Development Finance Corporation)
22	Royal Sundaram
23	PNB Metlife (Punjab National Bank)
24	ICICI Lombard ( Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank)
25	ICICI Prudential ( Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank)
26	Bajaj Allianz Life
27	India First Life Insurance
28	Max Life Insurance
29	LIC (Life Insurance Corporation)
30	Transfort, USA
31	Western Union
32	UAE Exchange (United Arab Emirates)
33	Transfast, USA
34	UTI Asset Management (Unit Trust of India)
35	CMS Infosystem (Content Management System.)
36	Reliance Capital Limited
37	Ambay Forex
38	Centre For Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI)
39	IDRBT (Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology)
40	NIBM (National Institute of Bank Management)
41	Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs
42	National Stock Exchange
43	Access Assist
44	Muthoot Fin Corp
45	AnG India Ltd
46	Nomura Research Institute
47	Aumentis
48	Randstad
49	IBRT - Institution for Bank Recruitment and Training
50	Shilpi Architects
51	MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited)
52	Abc Infosystems
53	PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority)
54	Visa
55	Methodex Systems
56	iValue infosolutions
57	Inspira
58	Indepay
59	Mindgate Solutions
60	Layered Security
61	Nelito Systems
62	ITI Limited (Indian Telephone Industries Limited)
63	NCR Corporation (National Cash Register)
64	Finacus Solutions
65	BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited)
66	Tata Communication Payment Solutions
67	Mfino
68	Span Technologies
69	AGS Transact Technologies LTD
70	Wipro Ltd
71	Ezeetap
72	Diebold Systems Pvt Ltd
73	Hitachi Payments Services Pvt. Ltd
74	EPS
75	Fiorano software
76	Worldline India Pvt ltd
77	Transaction Analyst
78	Pay e, USA
79	Perpetuuity
80	Edgeverve
81	Obopay
82	Wordline
83	Oberthur
84	Burroughs Inc
85	Intellect Design Arena
86	3i Infotech
87	RS Software
88	Empays
89	Hughes Communication India Ltd
90	Tsys (Total System Services)
91	AKS IT Services
92	Aditya Birla
93	Safeage
94	Tata AIG
95	Crane PI
96	Finsall
97	OKI
98	Agmatel

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