India Post Payment Bank (IPPB)
Recently India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) has successfully completed 5 years.
It may be noted that IPPB was established in the year 2018 under the Department of Posts under the Ministry of Communications. It is completely owned by the Central Government.
The aim of ‘India Post Payment Bank’ is to provide extremely accessible, affordable and reliable banking services to the common people of India.
Its main function is to promote financial inclusion by removing barriers to access to banking services and reducing resource costs.
It has been registered under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Also, IPPB is duly licensed by RBI to carry out payments banking related operations in the country.
It provides services like savings and current accounts, remittances and money transfers, Aadhaar enabled payment system etc. It is a scheduled payments bank.
It provides facilities for three types of accounts:
- Safal (Regular Account);
- Sugam (Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA);
- Saral (BSBDA – short)
Achievements of IPPB:
- More than 6 crore accounts have been opened across the country. These also include 96 lakh accounts opened in aspirational districts.
- Smart phones and biometric devices have been provided to 1.90 lakh postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks.
- 37 lakh banking access points have been established through the post office network across the country.
Payment Banks
Setting up a payments bank was recommended by the ‘Nachiket Mor Committee’ to cater to the needs of ‘low income groups and small businesses’.
What can and can’t payments banks do?
- Payments banks can accept demand deposits up to Rs 1 lakh. Along with this, other facilities like mobile payment/shopping, ATM/debit card, net banking, third party fund transfer can also be provided.
- But payment banks cannot do fixed deposits (FDs), term deposits, recurring deposits or any other type.
- Also, payments banks cannot accept non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits, make loans or issue credit cards.
Source – PIB
