India Post to approach RBI for interoperability of ATMs.

  NEW DELHI: Department of Post (DoP) will soon approach Reserve Bank for interoperability of its ATMs with commercial banks as it looks to roll out 10,000 ATMs across the country by the end of this year. A DoP official told PTI that Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked the department to take the proposal to RBI on priority basis as it will help in popularising banking in rural areas. 

he official added that India Post will be rolling out 10,000 ATMs and 20,000 micro ATMs across the country by the end of this year. Interoperability of postal ATMs will help people to withdraw money from their bank accounts also. Currently, such ATMs can be used if people have an account in DoP. 

The government wants to leverage the vast network of India Post for implementing the mandate of financial inclusion and it has received renewed momentum from the Budget recommendations. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced in his Budget speech for 2016-17 that to provide better access to financial services, especially in rural areas, the government will undertake a massive nationwide rollout of ATMs and micro ATMs in post offices over the next three years. DoP has already announced plans to open 1,000 ATMs by March. 

India Post has more than 576 ATMs across the country and has also overtaken the State Bank of India to become India's largest core banking network having 18,231 branches. 

By March, all the 25,000 departmental post offices would offer anywhere banking facilities using core banking solutions. As on February, India Post has issued 1,26,181 ATM/debit cards to its account holders. 

The Public Investment Board has already approved the Rs 800-crore proposal from India Post for setting up a payments bank. PIB, under the Finance Ministry, vets the investment proposals by state-run entities. 

The department is also in the process of finalising selection of a consultant for setting up of the India Post payments bank. 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 may start by March 2017. 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 has granted payments bank permit to the department, which is already into providing financial services and has 1.55 lakh branches across the country. 

‘IndiaPost’s core banking system beats SBI in size’

   MUMBAI: The department of posts now has a core banking system that is bigger than that of SBI, Union IT and communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said. The minister's statement comes at a time when IndiaPost is in the process of launching a payments bank. Infosys had bagged a multi-year Rs 700-crore deal from the department to implement its core banking solution Finacle connecting 1.5 lakh post offices with 20 crore customer accounts in 2012.

  Until now, SBI's core banking system implemented by TCS was the largest in the country and also the largest centralized core system implementation ever undertaken. The bank has 16,498 branches and 57,986 ATMs.

However, even this large network pales in comparison to IndiaPost's network. While the post office has a larger network, the accounts are more in the nature of savings and SBI's core system is much more complex as it handles millions of transactions every day. The bank has also built a data warehousing and analytics layer over the core banking platform whereas IndiaPost has completed the first leg of networking.Speaking at a special session at the Make in India week, Prasad said that the department would soon launch a payments bank. The minister said that around 60 domestic and international entities had evinced interest in partnering with the department. Prasad launched a 'fund-of-funds' aimed at helping startups from the electronics and IT sector create intellectual property. The government would invest up to Rs 2,200 crore in the initiative which would be in the form of a public-private partnership. The Electronic Development Fund is floated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

Courtesy:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

India Post Simplifies Deliveries with Technological Integration.

  It is a great time for e-commerce!  Indeed an opportune time for technological innovations! The community of online buyers and sellers is growing dramatically. And who is surfing on the crest of this huge wave?  None other than our once-familiar India Post. The journey from the mail runners to e-commerce has indeed become an exciting one.

India Post has 1.55 lakh post offices and 1.39 lakh in rural areas and is one of the partners for e-commerce customers as they have a deep reach. The network has registered a seven-fold growth since independence, with the focus of this expansion predominantly in rural areas.

 “At the moment, we are doing delivery of parcels for more than 100 e-commerce customers with four major players being Amazon, Myntra, Naaptol, Flipkart and Snapdeal,” says K.Balasubramanian, deputy director general-Technology, India Post.

‘Turant Seva’ at India Post; credit, debit cards to be accepted for Tirupati visit.

 Hyderabad, July 5: 

 

  In a joint initiative between India Post and State Bank of India, point-of-sale (POS) machines will now start functioning at post offices in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Inaugurating the service at the General Post Office, Hyderabad, Chief Postmaster General BV Sudhakar said “turant seva” initiative enables services like booking a speed-post delivery, paying insurance premium, and even withdrawing small amounts of cash, in 108 post offices across AP and Telangana.

  The “turant seva” counters in post offices, soon to be introduced in the rest of the 2,400-odd post offices in both States, will have the added functionality of booking TTD darshan tickets through credit or debit cards from any bank. Cash withdrawals from these POS machines, termed “chhota” ATMs, are capped at ₹1,000 over three transactions per card per day.

“India post is now technologically driven,” said Sudhakar, speaking about India Post’s new initiatives in Mobile and Electronic Money Orders, wherein money orders will directly be credited to the recipient’s savings account, thereby reducing the hassle of going to a Post Office to collect the money.CR Sasikumar, Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India, inaugurated the “MyStamp” series. Through “MyStamp”, a customer can buy stamps featuring his own photo as an alternative to stamps featuring Gandhi or Tagore, said Sudhakar. The stamps are priced at ₹300 for a sheet of twelve stamps. India Post also released a set of envelopes commemorating the golden jubilee of State Bank of India, Hyderabad circle.

Courtesy:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

Why India Post could become e-commerce’s most potent delivery partner.

Radhika P Nair | June 26, 2015

source:http://yourstory.com/2015/06/india-post-ecommerce/

Sharadamani Amma, an 87-year-old great grandmother, remembers a time when the sight of mail runners would cause a great deal of excitement in the small Kerala village she grew up in. The appearance of these postal employees, who carried mail between post offices on foot, meant a letter or money order or, god forbid, a telegram—a sure sign of ill news.

But those days are long gone. The postmen are no longer held in high regard in most of the country, and few in the current generation would have even stepped into a post office, at least in urban India.

Rural Post Offices will work as Common Service Centres; says Minister.

  Union Minister for Information and Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad said rural post offices across the country will also function as common service centres (CSCs) providing e-services. He said this while asserting that the postal department had a crucial role to play in bringing in digital revolution in the country.

"Our vision of digital India is to ensure that from a mason to barber to a tyre puncture repairer, all can access newer avenues of growth using communications equipment like a smart phone," said Prasad while inaugurating the revamped building of Bhowanipore post office here. "We are also committed to developing e-commerce, e-education and e-health. This is the larger vision of digital India. And in this digital India initiative, rural post offices have a very crucial role to play. "We have decided that all the 1.30 lakh rural post offices should also become common service centres (CSCs) to further provide services," the minister added.

Implemented under the National e-Governance Plan and formulated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, the CSCs are ICT-enabled front end service delivery points at the village-level for delivery of government, financial, social and private sector services in the areas of agriculture, health, education, entertainment, FMCG products, banking, insurance, pension, utility payments etc.

Prasad said he expected the Reserve Bank of India to grant payment license to the proposed Post Bank of India by July. "We expect to get the RBI nod by July. With 1,54,000 post offices the new initiative will usher in a financial revolution across the country," he said. Hailing the services by the postal department, Prasad said it has done a business of Rs.500 crore in the year in e-commerce besides opening over 52 lakh accounts under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna receiving over Rs.1,000 in deposits. "Whatever, be the decline in services, people still respect the Indian Railways and the postal services. I urge you all to build upon that respect and contribute towards the growth of the country," said Prasad, urging the employees to contribute towards the government's initiative to modernise the postal department. Prasad also said state-run BSNL was also on the road to recovery.

"Now BSNL is running into losses in excess of Rs 8,000 crore. But in 2004, it earned a profit of Rs 10,000 crore. So we decided to revive it ... BSNL already has added 47 lakh new customers and its revenue has risen by 2%," he said. The minister also said there would be 100 crore mobile connections in the country in next few years. "In a country with a population of 125 crore, we now nearly 101 crore phone connections of which 98 crore are mobile phones. In the coming few years, we will have over 100 crore mobile phone connectivity across the country," Prasad said.

"Studies show that a country with more broadband connections has greater impact on the GDP growth. "So we are bringing national optical fibre network connecting over 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across the country, we are bringing in broadband revolution," he added.

Courtesy:Timesofindia.

Sensing huge business in logistics segment, India Post to raise tie-ups with etailers.

 MUMBAI: When did you last remember a postman knocking at you door? Even though it's hard to recall such an incident, your friendly neighbourhood postman may now appear at your doorstep more often, delivering a book or a gadget bought on an ecommerce portal.

The department of posts now delivers more than two lakh ecommerce parcels daily, double of what it used to a year ago, according to a national estimate. 

"Ecommerce fulfillment (shipping) is a big business opportunity for us," said Ashok Kumar Dash, chief postmaster general (Maharashtra Circle), India Post. "Associations with ecommerce portals are likely to go up in the coming days, and the quality of delivery in farflung areas will be crucial."For India Post, the new-age business is going to be a key revenue driver with phenomenal rise in daily mailing volumes as it is increasingly looking at associations with entities such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and YEP, a move aimed at revenue generation for the 200-year old straggler. 

For instance, in the Mumbai region of the Maharashtra circle, daily Amazon parcel deliveries have risen to about 7,000 a day at present from a mere 200 shipments in November, two people with the direct knowledge of the matter told ET. 

Flipkart too has started shipments to its customers using the postal services. In the Mumbai region, it has been sending around 700-800 parcels daily since the past three months, said one of the persons in the know of things. 

Two years ago, the ecommerce revenue was below Rs 200 crore, and it was estimated to be about Rs 400-500 crore in the year ending March 2015. 

All-India revenue from ecommerce is expected to be Rs 900-1,000 crore in FY16 for India Post, according to PN Ranjit Kumar, postmaster general (Mumbai), India Post. "Revenues are likely to rise in this segment," he said. Both, however, declined to share further details. The ecommerce sector in India has grown by 34% ( CAGR) since 2009 to touch $16.4 billion in 2014, and is expected to be about $22 billion in 2015, according to a recent report by PwC. This in turn has triggered a growth in the logistics business. 

India's logistics business is estimated at $100 billion, and India Post is hoping to cater to the growing demand in this sector, especially in tier-II and tier-III cities where the presence of private courier companies is limited. The postal department is trying to use its post office network of over 1.5 lakh branches. 

source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

India Post a step closer to start its own bank; gets informal approval from authorities.

MUMBAI: India Post has moved a step closer to starting its own bank as it has received an informal assurance from the authorities that it will be granted a payments bank license. 

The state-owned postal services department has floated an expression of interest, or EOI, inviting consultants for its banking foray, two people aware of the matter told ET. Top consultancy firms, including PwC, McKinsey, BCG and Deloitte are in the race to help in conceptualising the proposed bank's structure. The EOI will remain open for application for another month. 

This is one step before the department launches the request for proposal, or RFP, inviting official bids from consultants with price quotations. "There are precedents globally of successful transition of postal departments into banks," said Shinjini Kumar, executive director and leader, banking and capital markets, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consulting firm. "Given their wide infrastructure and trust, India Post's business model is suitable for a bank." 

"But in the long run, the success of a business model depends on the successful execution and long-term sustainability. In the context of new digital businesses and competition, execution will be the key," she said. 

The first set of new banking licences will be issued by August. As many as 41 applicants have applied for the payments bank licence. "I hope to announce at least one set of bank licence by August end," Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had said during the monetary policy review on June 2. 

"We need to upgrade the technology before we plunge into a banking business. Consulting firms can guide us in the right direction," said a senior official of India Post, who did not wish to be named. MS Ramanujan, a senior member from the Bengaluru circle, has been promoted to look after the banking business, but he is to assume official charge. 

"The major challenge to India Post is technology, where it requires a lot of revamping, particularly for a payments bank which is expected to be a technology heavy business model," said Saurabh Tripathi, partner and director, BCG.




Courtesy: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

The Future of Post Offices as Banking Institutions in India-Policy Report by Nandini Dubey.

Nandini Dubey

 This report seeks to integrate threads of India’s financial inclusion dynamics and recognise the role post offices could play with their homespun technology. It anticipates a future for Indian post offices as banking institutions, taking into consideration the deposits, performance, and administration of the branches that provide Core Banking Solutions (CBS) in Chennai. This report will look at the transitions and institutional layering that the Post Office Savings Banking is going through. This report aims to provide an unbiased evaluation of post office banking, focussing on the loopholes that need to be plugged in the process of institutional layering. The report includes suggestions that will enable the Indian postal services to become an instrument of financial inclusion. The main conclusion of the study is that post offices can do better as an agency commission for credit facilities than as a provider of first party services.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

IndiaPost inks deal to issue 1.5 crore debit cards.

  MUMBAI: IndiaPost will soon issue debit cards to its 1.5 crore account holders with the Department of Post signing a Rs 30 crore deal with CMS Info System to supply Rupay enabled cards. The Department of Post (DOP) has over 10 crore account holders in India, and has already begun deploying ATMs across the country in aphased manner.

The personalized debit cards for DOP will be issued on the NPCI platform and their usage would initially only be on ATMs installed at DOP branches, as a closed loop environment. The cards can later be used on other ATMs with Rupay affiliation. These cards will initially be of the magstripe variant, with the option of EMV being available to the account holders after a set period of time.

"This deal will power issuance of personalized cards to complement IndiaPost's ATM deployment plans over a three-year period. We expect this to benefit people using teller facilities at the branches, as they can now begin to use these cards for more convenient cash withdrawals," said Mokam Singh Matta, Head of Card Business, CMS Info System. In addition to financial cards, CMS also personalizes Smart Cards which are being increasingly used in large scale government projects, including National ID, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Employee's State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Some of these form a critical backbone for financial inclusion projects in the country, he said.

IndiaPost which is a large mobiliser of deposits is currently awaiting approval from Reserve Bank of India to set up the Postbank of India. The government department, which has the largest financial services distribution network across the country, is presently running a large deficit on postal services. With traditional mail services on a decline due to electronic communication, the department is looking for opportunity in logisitics and financial services.

The department has already embarked on deploying core banking solutions which will make it easier for customers to get service outside their home branch.

Courtesy:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

SOLUTION FOR COD AMOUNT NOT DELIVERED TO THE BILLER EVEN IT IS CORRECTLY DELIVERED IN DELIVERY OFFICE.

 In the ePayment web login of Divisional administrator go to the option tools->Confirm Mo booking for unpaid parcel COD articles option. From the list select the article number. It shows the list of articles for which payment has not been made to the biller. Check each article. If

the article correctly delivered in office, select that article tick option MO not booked. Now the ePayment will be re transmitted to the booking office from central server and biller will get payment. 

If the office did not get the electronic data and sent MO, tick the option MO booked. Now it will be removed from list and biller will receive eMO and no need to re transmit ePayment data. 

If you track this parcel CODs you will see only status as ePayment delivered. When the booking party gets the amount 2 rows will come here. ePayment delivered, and ePayment paid. After you update this confimation in web, party will get amount and after that when you

tyrack you will see ePayment paid.-- 

Please share this info and clear this in your DO epayment login.

Thanks.
Rajesh CR
System Administrator

Western Union renews tie-up with India Post.

  

Global money transfer major Western Union today said it has renewed its 14-year-old partnership with India Post, which is now in the race to become a payments bank.

After the renewed agreement, nearly 10,000 post offices will continue to serve as Western Union agents, it said in a statement here without revealing the tenure of the agreement.

People can continue to receive money sent from other locations through post offices, it added.

“India Post is a name to be reckoned with when seeking consumer trust, reliability and reach. Through India Post, we are able to provide financial access to millions of people across the country with utmost convenience,” Western Union Managing Director Kiran Shetty said.

The Department of Posts is among 41 entities and individuals who are in the race to enter the soon to be introduced payments banking domain. It had earlier applied for universal bank licence, but there was some rethink on part of the government.

Last week, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor SS Mundra had said the central bank hoped to issue the licences to eligible small and payment candidates by the end of the year. The applications were submitted early February.

Globally, Western Union has tie-ups with over 100 postal organisations around the world.

It has a network of 1.11 lakh agents in the country, of which 9,942 are post offices.

(Courtesy:-http://www.thehindubusinessline.com This article was published on May 25, 2015 )

Network-connected handheld devices for postal delivery soon.

  The Department of Posts (DoP) is likely to soon start a Rs 1,370-crore mega project that will allow India's 1.3 lakh postmen in rural regions to use network-connected handheld terminals for postal delivery.

The project, awarded last year to a consortium that includes state-run Telecom Consultants of India (TCIL), system integrator Ricoh India and Hyderabad-based VisionTek, which provides handheld devices, was delayed due to unavailability of components.Big IT companies such as HP and Wipro were also in the running for the contract rolled out by the ministry of communications & information technology. "Based on terminal devices on network, the DoP initiative is likely to happen later this month. The project was delayed as the private company took time to deliver the components," TCIL's chairman and managing director Vimal Wakhlu told ET.

The devices will have a biometric module to authenticate an individual's identity using the Aadhaar number, solar-powered panel for charging terminals and a thermal printer to instantly print receipts.

"This is completely an indigenous project, including devices and components, and strengthens the concept of 'Make in India'," said Wakhlu.

The initiative is aimed at preventing postal losses and minimising procedural delays. The service will require a digital signature of the addressee that can be automatically transferred to a central server and an acknowledgement sent to the person.

TCIL is roping in state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for providing network connectivity.

The movement of postmen can be tracked using GPS on this device. It will help monitor the entire system and ensure more efficiency as post offices play a vital role in India's rural economy, Wakhlu said. "This programme is a step towards financial inclusion of the people of rural India as it will facilitate financial transactions. Money can be delivered and accepted through this device, with proper bank account and receipts delivery," he said.

Ricoh will act as the systems integrator, managing installations, maintaining hardware and supplying peripheral devices for the project.

"We have won the Rs 1,370-crore contract from DoP for the supply of hardware solutions under the department's modernisation initiatives. Ricoh will be providing maintenance services for rural ICT devices for a period of five years," said Ricoh India's managing director Manoj Kumar.


courtesy:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Speed post services more reliable and faster than private couriers, says CAG

  

 

 In a rare observation coming from the official auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General has appreciated the functioning of the postal department. The reason: deliveries of speed post letters which are more reliable and faster than private courier services. 

Delivery of letters by speed post ranged from 1-9 days in major cities with 99% chances of letters reaching addressees. In comparison, the private courier services turned out to be less reliable with 92% test check letters reaching destination, and time taken ranged from 1-10 days. 

A CAG report, tabled in Parliament recently, has said that the performance of speed post has been better than the private couriers in major cities, at the tehsil level and at village level. 

In order to compare the performance and quality of speed post service with private courier agencies for delivery of mails, a test check was conducted by CAG in eight postal circles -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Checks were conducted by posting hundreds of letters. 

As far as delivery performance was concerned, it was found that 98% letters were delivered by speed post in local areas as compared to 93% by private couriers. In major cities, the delivery performance by speed post was 99% as compared to 92% of private couriers. At the tehsil level only speed post could reach 100% addressees that too within 1-7days. Private couriers could only deliver 83% letters and time ranged from 1-23 days. 

"Based on the results, it could be concluded that the speed post service of the department of posts (DoP) was better than the services provided by the private courier services," the auditor said. 

Speed post service was introduced in 1986 to provide a fast and time-bound delivery service in major cities. However, due to late delivery of mails people had stopped relying on the department for timely-delivery of documents. Still, speed post services account for more than 10% of the total revenue of DoP. 

In the test check, the auditor had posted 284 letters by speed post and 287 by different private courier services. The performance was judged based on the number of letters sent, letters actually delivered, and time taken for delivery of test letters by speed post as well as private couriers.

Courtesy:-The Times of India

India Post to open 500 ATMs.

  

 










Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, M.S. Ramanujam, (right) and Postmaster General - Western
 Region, Manju P. Pillai (second right) at the inauguration of Post Office Savings Bank ATM in Coimbatore.

    India Post plans to open 500 ATMs this financial year in the State for Post Office Savings Bank customers, M.S. Ramanujan, Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, told presspersons here on Wednesday.

Inaugurating an ATM at Coimbatore Head Post Office, he said that six ATMs were operational in the State already. Over 600 post offices in the State are covered under core banking services and the remaining would also be brought under core banking by the end of March next year.

Almost 60 per cent of postal savings bank customers are in rural areas. All the head post offices in the district head quarters in the State would have an ATM.

For now, customers can withdraw maximum of Rs. 25,000 a day and Rs. 10,000 per transaction.

Manju P. Pillai, Postmaster General, Western Region, said that of the 600 post offices in the western region, 130 have been covered under core banking so far. ATMs will be opened soon in Erode head post office and Bhavani head post office.

The region had 69 lakh live savings bank accounts and 12 lakh of these were opened in 2014-2015.

According to a press release from the department, customers who have minimum balance of Rs. 5,000 and have an account at the respective head office can apply for an ATM card and they will get the card in a month. The ATM will work from Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ms. Pillai said that within a month the ATMs will be operational 24 hours on all days.

Mr. Ramanujan said that under the Sukanya Samriddhi scheme, 6.12 lakh accounts were opened in Tamil Nadu in a month. The department has also launched special service for delivery of products within two days to customers who place orders on e-commerce portal. Initially, it has tied up with Amazon for this, he said.

Courtesy:http://www.thehindu.com

Money Order service in tact, says India Post.

  India Post has lashed out on its competitors by stating that 'sponsored negative publicity campaign' has resulted in rumors being spread that the department has shut its age-old money order service.

"It has been noticed that since the last few weeks news items have been repeatedly appearing in Hindi and other regional newspapers regarding alleged discontinuation of money order services by the Department of Posts. This appears to be a sponsored negative publicity campaign," read a statement issued by the department.

"Only videsh money order service has been discontinued. Other money order services provided by the department are still there," said Ashok Kumar Dash, chief post master general, Maharashtra circle. In fact, attempts are being made by the department to remit money order though internet. In the recent past, the time taken to transmit money order has been reduced due to electronic mode of transmission.

"There are plans that in future hand-held devices will be used to further cut down on transit time and also to provide signature and thumb impression to the sender. The image will be scanned and the sender can check it online," added Dash.

A sizeable number of individuals still continue to book money order, some of those include daily-wage earners at urban areas, to send money back home. Those who want to do charity by donating money to charitable organisations or religious institutions too use the service.

courtesy:http://www.dnaindia.com

India Post starts e-commerce centre for handling deliveries.

 NEW DELHI: To cash in on growing online shopping trend, India Post Delhi circle will start its e-commerce centre from Monday

"Considering the rapid growth of e-commerce business in the country in the recent past, the Department of Posts, through Delhi Postal Circle has taken up a project to establish the e-commerce Centre at Safdarjang, New Delhi," an official statement said today.

This processing centre will handle exclusively all the e-commerce business.

"The e-commerce Centre at Safdarjang, New Delhi is to be dedicated to the Nation by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon'ble Minister of Communications and Information Technology on 11th May 2015," the statement said.

The centre is capable of handling 30000 parcels or articles per day and parcels collected from the e-commerce customers, processed and dispatched within 24 hours to respective destination through quickest available flight or train, as the case may be.

"The leading e-commerce customers, Amazon, Paytm, Yepme, Snapdeal, etc are already availing the benefits of fast, reliable and safe processing of their e-commerce parcels at the newly established e-commerce Centre at Safdarjang in New Delhi," the statement said.

India Post will also launch a mobile application for Android phones that will help people in real time tracking of accountable articles, post office search, postage calculator, etc through Mobile Phone. 

Now track Your Mail Location with India Post's Mobile App

CHENNAI: In a bid to make the postal service customer-friendly, the Indian postal department on Monday launched the India Post mobile app that would enable one to track speed post, electronic money orders and parcels sent through the postal service.

The citizen-centric Android Mobile application of Department of Posts was developed by Centre for Excellence in Postal Technology. A postal department official said that through the mobile application, the user can track his mail or parcel besides conduct a search for post office.

The tracking facility is made available on this mobile app for speed post, registered letter, insured letter, value payable letter, insured value payable letter, registered packets, registered periodicals, registered parcel, insured parcel, value payable parcel, insured value payable parcel, business parcel, express parcel and electronic Money Order (e-MO)

The user can track these by entering the articles number and touching the Track button.

The mobile app user can also get information about list of post offices by entering first four character of the name of the Post office or by entering the Pin code of the office. Even information like name of the post office, street address (location), contact details (where ever available) for the selected post office are available for the user.

The name of the Division and contact details of the Divisional Superintendent, details of Regional Postmaster General and the Chief Postmaster General will also displayed in the application, he said.

The app also has the feature to calculate the Postage (tariff) to be paid for all types of articles based on the weight entered by the user. The unique feature of the Postage Calculator is that a single query leads to the display of tariff chargeable for ordinary letter, speed post, domestic post, registered letter ordinary parcel, registered parcel, registered book pack etc depending on the distance between the two points .

Besides, the app also has features where users can check the premium payable for various types of postal or rural postal life insurance policies on the basis of the input entered. The app also shows the interest rate for savings scheme like Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, recurring deposit, time deposit (1 year, 2 year, 3 year and 5 year), monthly income scheme, senior citizen savings scheme and National Savings Certificate. It can be downloaded from 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.indiapost

courtesy:http://www.newindianexpress.com/

RAJYA SABHA Q&A regarding Post Bank of India & Task force Recommendations on PBI

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF POSTS     

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.163

                                        TO BE ANSWERED ON 24^TH APRIL, 2015

POSTAL BANKS

163. DR. PRADEEP KUMAR BALMUCHU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a)       whether it is a fact that Government is urging the Department of Posts to come up with opening of Postal Banks in the country, if so, the details thereof;

(b)       whether the Subramanian Committee, to which the matter had been referred, has submitted its report and has made recommendations in this regard; and

(c)        if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a)       Sir, the Department of Posts has submitted an application to Reserve Bank of India on 30.1.2015 seeking license for setting up Post Bank of India under the rubric of “Payments Bank”. The Government is committed to increasing access of the people to the formal financial system and in this context, Government proposes to utilize the vast Postal network with nearly 1, 54,000 points of presence spread across the villages of the country.  The Government hopes that the Postal Department will make its proposed Payments Bank venture successful so that it contributes further to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The details of the proposed Post Bank would be finalized once the Reserve Bank of India takes a favourable decision on application submitted by Department of Posts. In the recent budget speech also the Finance Minister has appreciatingly talked about Post Bank.

           

(b) & (c )         The Task Force on Leveraging the Post Office Network under the Chairmanship of retired Cabinet Secretary Shri. T.S.R.Subramanian,  has submitted its report during November-2014. The said task force has recommended for setting up Post Bank of India. The details of the recommendations are reproduced in theAnnexure- ‘A’ enclosed herewith.

Annexure-A

Recommendations of Task Force on Leveraging Post Office Network with respect to Setting up of Post Bank of India:-

(i)   The proposal is not to convert the PO Network into a Bank, but to set up a fully professional new Bank to further financial inclusion and meet the objectives of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, which specifically provides for the extension of credit to all Indians resident in every part of India, particularly in rural areas.

(ii)  This opportunity for achieving universal financial inclusion via technology and the institutional reach of the PO Network must not be lost. There is admittedly a risk involved, as there is in any new venture into uncharted waters. The risk involved can and must be managed in the interests of the overall larger national objectives.

(iii) The PBI must be professionally managed and operated, with credit and other risks being handled by experienced experts hired from the market. In its own interest, its operations must be fully in line and compliant with RBI Guidelines.

(iv)  A new institution, to be called the Post Bank of India or by some other suitable name, should be set up as a commercial bank offering the full spectrum of financial and banking services.

(v)  As the owner of the proposed PBI, the Government of India may take decisions as appropriate on structural and organizational issues and other details, including the funding requirements.

(vi)  The Task Force is of the view that the PBI should be set up under an Act of Parliament and that establishing the PBI as a statutory institution and a Government Bank would enhance its credibility, insulate it from local pulls and greatly facilitate its operations.

(vii) It is essential to structure the proposed PBI in such a manner as to pre-empt the possibility of outside interests influencing its day-to-day operations.

(viii) The Task Force also recommends that the PBI should initially be set up as a Public Sector Bank wholly owned by the Government of India.

(ix) The initial capital requirement, estimated at Rs. 500 crores as per RBI requirements would be fully funded by the Government.

(x) After the Bank establishes itself in 3 to 5 years, the Board of Directors could take a view on floating an IPO to raise fresh capital.

(xi)  The PBI will focus on fulfilling the Government’s mandate of financial inclusion and on bringing the un-banked and under-banked segments of the population, particularly in rural, semi-rural and remote areas within the ambit of the formal monetized economy.

(xii)  A view needs to be taken on how best to seamlessly integrate the earlier banking operations into the proposed new structure, The best and seamless method would be to fully absorb the POSB in the new proposed Bank (PBI).

(xiii) The PBI will offer services including credit, which are beyond the remit of the POSB.

(xiv) The PBI will develop financial products and services which are specially tailored to the needs of the rural and urban unbanked population, if necessary in collaboration with other banks.

(xv)  The PBI will function as a commercially viable and self-sustaining entity without the need for continuing Government subsidies.

(xvi) After the Initial gestation period, it should generate its own resources and sustain itself in the competitive market environment.

(xvii) The PBI should price its services on a cost plus basis and revise these rates from time to time, so that its operations do not become a continuing and increasing burden on the Government exchequer.

(xviii) The PBI will start with a Head Office Main Branch and will thereafter expand its operations by opening Branch offices in the Metro towns and State capitals, to be manned by banking professionals.

(xix) The longer term objectives would be to establish a Branch Office of the PBI in each District Headquarter over a 3 to 5 year period, to be operated mostly by banking professionals.

(xx) The 150,000-plus Departmental and Branch POs will act as Banking Correspondents for the PBI.

(xxi) Careful consideration should be given to the various types, elements and levels of risk involved in the PBI’s operations.

(xxii) Robust System Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures should be put in place to manage these risks effectively.

(xxiii) The PBI should recruit/commission the services of banking experts to manage its credit, portfolio and market risks.

(xxiv) Appropriate management capabilities should be mobilized from the market and robust systems and processes should be put in place to ensure that Non-Performing Assets are kept within acceptable limits.

(xxv) It is neither necessary nor desirable to mandate a waiting period before the PBI enters into credit and lending operations.

(xxvi) The PBI should be constituted and begin working as a credit and lending Bank immediately, without any trial/waiting/learning period.

(xxvii) The PBI should be set up as an independent Statutory and corporate entity offering the full bouquet services, including credit, to its customers.

(xxviii) The PBI will primarily target currently unbanked and under-banked customers in rural, semi-rural and remote areas, with a focus on providing small and affordable loans and simple deposit products.

(xxix) Customers will be provided with full-fledged Savings Accounts, which can be retained even with zero balances, as provided for in the PMJDY.

(xxx) Credit risks will be managed by hiring professionals from the banking sector and by developing and implementing robust protocols for building checks and balances in the system. Market and robust systems and processes should be put in place to ensure that Non-Performing Assets are kept within acceptable limits.   

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