India Post has selected
Deloitte to advise it on setting up a payments bank and an agreement between
the two will be signed on March 14.
The Public Investment Board has already
approved the Rs 800-crore proposal of India Post and in 15 days, it will go to
the Cabinet for final approval. "We have selected Deloitte as the
consultant for payments bank. The agreement will be signed on March 14,"
an official in the Department of Post (DoP) told PTI.
India Post payments bank
will primarily target unbanked and under-banked customers in rural, semi-rural
and remote areas, with a focus on providing simple deposit products and money
remittance services.
The pilot for the payments bank is set to start from
January and the full-fledged operations will start by March. As many as 40
international financial conglomerates including World Bank and Barclays have
shown interest to partner the postal department for setting up the bank.
Reserve Bank had granted payments bank permit to the department, which is
already into providing financial services and has 1.55 lakh branches across the
country.
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