PM Narendra Modi inaugurates India Post Payment Bank; postman to deliver doorstep banking services

New Delhi: “We have heard song ‘Dakiya dak laya’. From now, along with dakiya dak laaya, dakiya bank bhi laaya. Many thought technology had threatened the existence of the postal department and that postmen would lose their livelihood. The growing pace of technology in communication threw a challenge. We used technology as a base to turn that challenge into an opportunity,” announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) was inaugurated by the Prime Minister at the Talkatora stadium in Delhi. This postal payment bank will bring about major economic and social change. Prime Minister Modi expressed confidence that the postal bank will connect the poor and the weaker sections to the banking sector. This is considered to be a big step for financial inclusion of the weaker sections.

India is emotionally attached to the Post Office and a postman. There was a time when people in every village used to eagerly wait for the postman’s arrival. After the telecom and the internet revolution the question in every mind was ‘What will happen to the postal system?’. While clarifying that people still inherently trusted the postal system, the Prime Minister said that through the medium of this postal bank, the citizens who are still deprived of banking services, could be reached.

The postal bank will have 650 branches and 3,250 service centres initially. But by the end of the year 155,000 post offices will be connected to this postal bank. The scope of the bank will increase subsequently. There is no need to go to the bank to open your account. Your trusted postman will come home and complete the formalities to open the account and will become a banker for millions of Indians, said Prime Minister Modi. The government is committed to creating a rock solid network by connecting the extensive network of 300,000 postmen in the ‘Gramin Daak Seva’ (Rural Post Service) using technology, informed the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister claimed that thegovernment ‘ Transforms’ the old system using ‘Reform’ and ‘Perform’.

The government had earlier launched the scheme ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’ to connect the masses with the banking sector. Millions of Indians have been able to open their bank accounts through the Jan Dhan Yojana. But the advent of the Postal bank will also enable those people dwelling in the most inaccessible and the Adivasi (Tribal) regions to have bank accounts. The bank will reach the doorstep of every Indian.

Every district will have one branch of the Postal bank and one can open a savings or even a current account there. Along with money transfer and bill payment facilities, term deposit facilities will also be available. The Postal bank will make third party schemes like Mutual funds and insurance available to its customers. The government plans to take the crop insurance scheme to a maximum number of farmers through the India Post Payments Bank.