Lok Sabha Question No. 1193 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-23
Subject: Upgradation and Modernisation of Post Offices
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: GOPAL CHINAYYA SHETTY, RODMAL NAGAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1193 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23 RD   NOVEMBER, 2016

## UPGRADATION AND MODERNISATION OF POST OFFICES

- †1193.SHRI GOPAL SHETTY: SHRI NAGAR RODMAL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number  of  Head  Post  Offices,  Post  Offices and  Sub-Post  Offices functioning in the country, State-wise;
- (b) the number of new Post Offices proposed to be opened during the current Five Year Plan;
- (c) whether there is any proposal with the Government regarding computerization of all the Post Offices;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  introduce  new  financial  services  and make the Post Offices based banking facilities  more  user friendly  under  the  Digital India Programme to facilitate the people living in rural areas; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) State/UT-wise  number  of  Head  Post  Offices  (HOs),  Sub-Post  Offices  (SOs) and Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices (BOs) functioning in the country (as on 31.03.2016) is at Annexure-I .
- (b) Department  of  Posts  has  proposed  to  open  400  new  Branch  Post  Offices (BOs) and 412 new Sub-Post Offices (SOs) by redeployment & relocation during the Current  Five  Year  Plan  (2012-13  to  2016-17)  under  the  Plan  Scheme  -  'Rural Business  &  Access  to  Postal  Network',  out  of  which  344  BOs  and  369  SOs  have already  been opened upto March, 2016. Targets for opening of new BOs and SOs during the current financial year 2016-17 are 97 and 90 respectively.

(c) & (d) All Departmental  Post  Offices in the country have  already  been computerised.

(e) &(f) Core  Banking  Solution  (CBS)  has  been  implemented  in  23,040  Post Offices  for  benefit  of  the  beneficiaries  under  Small  Savings  Schemes.  ATMs  have been installed at 967 locations and 4.34 lakhs ATM Cards have been issued to Postal Saving Bank customers (as on 14.11.2016) to facilitate  easy  financial  transactions. Under  'Rural  Information  Communication  Technology  (RICT)  Project,  Handheld Devices are being  provided to Branch Post Offices  to facilitate postal and financial transactions.

Department of Posts is also setting up the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 2013 with 650 Branches colocated in District Headquarter Post Offices and all the Post Office in the district will be  linked  to  the  respective  IPPB  Branch.  IPPB  would  focus  on  providing  basic banking products and financial services such as:

- (i) Savings  Bank  Accounts  with  1  lakh  balance  limit  and  Current  Accounts  for Micro,  Small  &  Medium  Enterprises  (MSME),  Village  Panchayat  &  Self  Help Groups (SHGs);
- (ii) Third party partnerships to provide loans, insurance, pension products, etc.
- (iii) International and Domestic Remittance, utility bills, municipal dues, fees, etc.
- (iv) Citizen to Government (C2G) payment, taxes, etc. and Government to Citizen (G2C)  Payments  like  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)  under  Mahatma  Gandhi National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act  (MGNREGA),  National  Social Assistance Programme  (NSAP)  disbursements and other social benefit schemes.
- (v) Provide platform for enabling online purchase.

The  service  delivery  platform  of  IPPB  will  be  a  mix  of  counter  operations through Post Offices, internet banking, mobile banking, prepaid instruments such as mobile wallets, debit cards, ATMs, Point of Sale (PoS) and Mobile PoS terminals and other emerging technologies.

Contd/elipsis3/-

## ANNEXURE-I

## State/UT-wise Number of Head Post Offices, Sub-Post Offices and Extra

Departmental Branch Post Offices functioning in the country (as on 31.03.2016)

| Sl. No.   | States/UTs           |   No. of Post Head Offices |   No. of Sub-Post Offices |   No. of Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices |   Total No. of Post Offices |
|-----------|----------------------|----------------------------|---------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh       |                         59 |                      1525 |                                            8738 |                       10322 |
| 2         | Assam                |                         19 |                       606 |                                            3387 |                        4012 |
| 3         | Bihar                |                         32 |                      1023 |                                            7982 |                        9037 |
| 4         | Chhattisgarh         |                         10 |                       338 |                                            2809 |                        3157 |
| 5         | Delhi                |                         12 |                       395 |                                             147 |                         554 |
| 6         | Gujarat              |                         34 |                      1296 |                                            7596 |                        8926 |
| 6.1       | Dadar & Nagar Haveli |                          0 |                         4 |                                              34 |                          38 |
| 6.2       | Damna & Diu          |                          0 |                         7 |                                              12 |                          19 |
| 7         | Haryana              |                         16 |                       486 |                                            2182 |                        2684 |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh     |                         18 |                       450 |                                            2317 |                        2785 |
| 9         | Jammu & Kashmir      |                          9 |                       257 |                                            1435 |                        1701 |
| 10        | Jharkhand            |                         13 |                       447 |                                            2649 |                        3109 |
| 11        | Karnataka            |                         58 |                      1654 |                                            7951 |                        9663 |
| 12        | Kerala               |                         51 |                      1448 |                                            3558 |                        5057 |
| 12.1      | Lakshdweep           |                          0 |                         9 |                                               1 |                          10 |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh       |                         43 |                       985 |                                            7258 |                        8286 |
| 14        | Maharashtra          |                         59 |                      2053 |                                           10489 |                       12601 |
| 14.1      | Goa                  |                          2 |                       102 |                                             154 |                         258 |
| 15        | North East:          |                          0 |                         0 |                                               0 |                           0 |
| 15.1      | Arunachal Pradesh    |                          1 |                        48 |                                             252 |                         301 |
| 15.2      | Meghalaya            |                          2 |                        66 |                                             423 |                         491 |
| 15.3      | Mizoram              |                          1 |                        38 |                                             350 |                         389 |
| 15.4      | Manipur              |                          1 |                        55 |                                             646 |                         702 |
| 15.5      | Nagaland             |                          1 |                        41 |                                             288 |                         330 |
| 15.6      | Tripura              |                          3 |                        80 |                                             627 |                         710 |
| 16        | Odisha               |                         35 |                      1166 |                                            6968 |                        8169 |
| 17        | Punjab               |                         21 |                       703 |                                            3086 |                        3810 |
| 17.1      | Chandigarh           |                          1 |                        41 |                                               9 |                          51 |
| 18        | Rajasthan            |                         48 |                      1292 |                                            8978 |                       10318 |
| 19        | Tamil Nadu           |                         93 |                      2702 |                                            9240 |                       12035 |
| 19.1      | Puducherry           |                          1 |                        34 |                                              61 |                          96 |
| 20        | Telangana            |                         36 |                       825 |                                            4974 |                        5835 |
| 21        | Uttarakhand          |                         13 |                       379 |                                            2329 |                        2721 |
| 22        | Uttar Pradesh        |                         72 |                      2479 |                                           15111 |                       17662 |
| 23        | West Bengal          |                         45 |                      1671 |                                            7046 |                        8762 |
| 23.1      | Andaman & Nicobar    |                          1 |                        26 |                                              73 |                         100 |
| 23.2      | Sikkim               |                          1 |                        22 |                                             186 |                         209 |
|           | Total                |                        811 |                     24753 |                                          129346 |                      154910 |

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