MUMBAI, AUG 26:
The
Department of Posts will roll-out 1,000 ATMs in the next couple of years as
part of its plans to hive off its financial services business into a bank.
Currently,
the Department, which is also known as India Post, has two ATMs – one each at
Chennai and Delhi
Kalpana
Tewari, Member (Planning & Technology), Department of Posts, said the ATM
roll-out is linked to putting the post offices on the core banking platform.
Since
2012, the Department has put 676 Post Offices on the core banking platform. By
end of March 2016, it expects to put 25,000 such offices on the platform, which
entails networking of branches to enable customers to access their account from
and perform transactions at any of these networked offices.
The
Department has a budget of Rs. 5,000 crore for modernising its operations,
said Tewari.
On
the Department’s plans to foray into banking, she observed that while the
intention of her Department is to enter the banking space, when and how it will
be done remains to be seen.
Given
that India Post has been handling financial services such as Post Office
savings schemes, postal life insurance and money remittance services for
several decades, it is likely that it will opt to become a payments bank.
Tewari
said the Department, which has 30 crore accounts with deposits aggregating Rs. 6 lakh crore, as a standalone entity as well
as a partner to banks is an ideal vehicle for achieving the goal of financial
inclusion.
Among
the challenges facing the Department include technology and setting up
accounting systems, she added.
(This article was
published on August 26, 2014)
The Hindu (Business line)
