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.
