All Post Offices to Be Linked to India Post Payments Bank by December 31

All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country would be linked to the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) system by December 31, 2018, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.

The India Post Payments Bank is scheduled to be launched nation-wide on September 1.

"On the day of the launch, IPPB would have 650 branches and 3,250 access points spread across the country," the minister told reporters.

By the end of 2018, the number of access points would increase to 1.55 lakh, of which 1.30 lakh branches would be in rural areas, Sinha said.

Further, account holders of the Post Office Savings Bank would also be able to avail IPPB services by linking their accounts, he added.

The account holders in the payments bank would be provided a QR card and they can authorise transactions with the card and their biometrics, he added.

Meanwhile, the Union cabinet on Wednesday approved for revision of the project outlay for setting up of the payments bank from Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1,435 crore.

The additional sum of Rs. 635 crore is on account of Rs. 400 crore for technology costs and Rs. 235 crore for human resource costs, according to an official statement.

The bank would provide services such as current account, savings account, remittances, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, enterprise and merchant payment, the minister informed, adding that the services would be available through multiple channels including counter services, micro ATM, mobile banking applications, SMS and IVR (Interactive Voice Response).