India Post to Launch Payment Bank by March 2017: Prasad

Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said India Post would be launching its payment bank by March 2017.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of a week-long celebration of Good Governance Week organized by department of electronics and information technology.

Earlier the minister said Japanese company Hitachi is interested in partnering with the postal department for payment bank solutions.

The Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle approval to 11 applicants in August to set up payment banks. According to the apex bank's guidelines, payments banks would offer a limited range of products such as demand deposits and remittances.

The event saw launch of 23 products and services, including pan-India free incoming roaming facility for MTNL customers.

The minister also inaugurated Wi-Fi hotspots at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar and Dargah Sharif, Ajmer.

India Post has been seeking to modernise its services as well as deal with e-commerce clients in a bid to revitalise its slowing use. The Postal Department's strategy to pursue the online domain has paid off, with a 37 percent jump in parcel revenues reported in July this year.

In partnerships with e-commerce majors, the Postal Department had sweetened the deal for online players with an SMS facility to inform customers about delivery status of their parcels, and additional security with CCTV and access control systems to ensure safety of articles.

Written with agency inputs