NEW DELHI: The Department of Posts on Saturday said that India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will begin its nationwide rollout from April, 2018. It also refuted reports of revised or delayed timelines, stating that “no decision has been taken to revise timelines as reported in some sections of the media.”After completing the proposed expansion, IPPB will provide the largest financial inclusion network in the country with the ability to provide digital payment services at the doorstep with the help of Postmen and Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS).
All 1.55 lakh post office branches will operate as access points and 650 payments bank branches will provide them back- end support. IPPB will also enable more than 17 crore active account-holders of Post Office Savings Bank to make interoperable digital payments including the benefit of NEFT, RTGS, UPI and bill payment services. It will also accept digital payments across post offices in line with the digital payments initiative of the government.
Postal secretary Ananta Narayan Nanda on Monday had said that the IPPB will roll out its branches across India from May 2018 with an investment of about `1,450 crore. The department had launched its pilot services in Raipur and Ranchi in January 2017.IPPB will now become the third payments bank to have full-fledged operations after Paytm and Airtel Payments Bank. Paytm, for its part, has been aggressively expanding itself in the banking space and has committed to invest `3,000 crore to create a network of 10,000 offline banking touchpoints. However, Nanda had earlier pointed out that the vast reach of post
offices and the trust factor the department commands gives it an upper hand.