The Department of Post (DoP) plans to launch banking operations from its
50 branches in the first year and scale it to a total of 150 branches in 5
years. The amount would include Rs. 500
crore paid-up capital required under new banking licence guidelines. India Post, which has over 1.54 lakh post
offices across the country, would be using its existing network to provide
banking services and bring in financial inclusion. Of the 1.54 lakh, over 1.39 lakh branches are
in rural areas and 15,736 are in urban regions. There are around 90,000 bank
branches in the country and provision of real-time banking services through
postal network is estimated to triple the current banking network. The Post
Bank of India is proposed to be owned by DoP, but with a completely independent
board, governance structure and operations. It will have representation from
Finance Ministry, Ministry of Communication & IT, besides independent
directors on its board.
The RBI is expected to allocate new bank licence to eligible applicants
only by end of this fiscal.
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