The Andhra Pradesh Circle of India Post has set a target of opening 1 lakh savings/current accounts in a week as part of the India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) initiative. The AP Circle is targeting more than 13.25 lakh new accounts during the financial year. The IPPB is being launched on Saturday.
The Department of Posts has already opened more than 20,000 accounts across the State.
The post masters and department staff have already got busy with the exercise and people have started queueing up at the Circle Office to open accounts literally carrying no documents. No proofs are required as the accounts can be opened with just a fingerprint, Aadhaar number and mobile number. The department has provided fingerprint scanners and mobiles to the staff to ensure smooth operations.
The postal department has plans to open 13,03,767 customer accounts and 26,292 merchant accounts across the State.
The services will be available in 10,489 post offices, including Head Post Offices (HOs), Sub Offices (SOs) and Branch Offices (BOs) in the State.
The government has identified 24 IPPB locations, which will function as ‘backend support’ to the postal department, say officials.
QR card
AP Circle Chief Postmaster General K.Balasubramanian says apart from offering savings account and current account deposits, the IPPB will provide digitally-enabled payments and remittance services to customers. Further, the account holders of the Post Office Savings Bank will also be able to avail IPPB services by linking their accounts. As the limit for savings account in the IPPB is ₹1 lakh, any amount exceeding it would be swept into postal savings account of the customer, he says.
The IPPB account holder, however, will not be issued an ATM card. Instead, they will be provided a QR card and they can authorise transactions with the card and their biometrics. The services will be provided over multiple channels, including counter services, micro ATMs and mobile banking.
“Unlike other payment banks, the IPPB will be at the doorstep of the customers, ” he says.
