India Post Payments Bank to launch in August
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will launch on 21 August, with at least a branch in every district, aiming to help develop financial services in rural areas, according to The Economic Times.
As reported in February, IPPB planned a countrywide roll-out of its operations from May this year. By September, it said the roll-out will be completed.
IPPB, a subsidiary of India Post, opened for business last year with pilot services in Raipur and Ranchi.
Once fully launched, it will operate via the India Post network of 155,000 locations and have 650 offices providing back-end support.
In the latest development, two branches of the bank are already operational. The rest of the branches will be launched across the country in every district, according to a senior official.
IPPB says it will create and link 170 million postal savings bank (PSB) accounts, which will enable IPPB customers to transfer and receive money from any bank account.
The payment bank will be used by government to distribute wages, subsidies, pensions etc.
IPPB was the third entity to receive a payments bank permit after Airtel and Paytm; and it will enable customers to pay for services such as phone top-ups, phone bills, electricity bills, or college fees.
The bank has received an investment of INR 14.5 billion ($225.2 million). Initially, the INR 8 billion ($124.3 million) fund was approved for IPPB, but “due to some cost escalation” the investment was nearly doubled.
For its technology, IPPB uses Infosys’ Finacle core banking system, FinTech Futures understands.
