Taking another giant leap toward cashless economy, nation’s first ‘India Post Payment Bank’ will start its service from Monday here. Encouraging small entrepreneurs and inculcating the habits of saving among the people, the new banking service will be beneficial for the public residing in the rural pockets of the State, claimed an official of Department of Posts.
Ranchi and Raipur, the State Capital of Chhattisgarh, are the two cities where this financial service will be initiated on pilot basis in the first phase. According to the officials, soon its branches will be started in the remaining 23 districts of the State.
“As per the Government plan, approximately 640 ‘India Post Payment Banks’ will be started across the nation at different districts in the coming years. As of now, all paper work and other major tasks under this service will be carried out here at Ranchi GPO and will function as the access point of all post offices functioning in State,” said, Jharkhand Circle Chief Post Master General Anil Kumar.
An interested person who wants to avail the Post Payment Bank service will have three different options for opening a bank account with the India post. “On making a payment of `100 any individual can open account with ‘India Post Payment Bank’. It is mandatory for the customers to have Aadhaar and PAN card to get the bank account open. Under regular saving account and basic saving account scheme, a person will have to fill KYC form and can deposit up to `1 lakh per account.
Similarly, a person opting for the basic small saving account service have the limit of depositing cash up to `50000 only,” said, Jharkhand Circle, Director Postal, Bhupal Ram.
Services ranging from acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, internet banking and other specified areas will be covered under the financial service. The ‘India Post Payment Bank’ will be inaugurated online by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in the presence of other dignitaries. The Minister will address the address the officials, staffs of Jharkhand Postal Circle through video-conferencing.
Notably, the ‘India Post Payment Banks’ will not offer loans like the nationalised banks or other private sector banks.
“loans will not be given to the customers. Yet, the service will be immensely helpful in boosting up the banking services in remote areas. Soon, technical training will also be provided to all the staffs and official to get well versed with this new setup,” added Ram.