Lok Sabha Question No. 3963 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-18
Subject: Postal Banking
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Adala Prabhakara Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3963 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 TH  MARCH, 2020

## POSTAL BANKING

## 3963.   SHRI ADALA PRABHAKARA REDDY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  postal  banking  is  reportedly  not  popular  in  the  rural  areas  and  if  so,  the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) the reason for postal staff not getting requisite training in the postal banking;
- (c) the objective of postal banking; and
- (d) whether the Government has achieved the said objective and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a) No, Sir. The Post Office Savings Bank is quite popular and spread to the every nook & corner  of  the  country  including  rural  areas,  through  a  network  of  more  than  1.56  lakh  Post Offices. The details of number of Post Offices and accounts opened in Small Savings Schemes is as under-

| No. of Post Offices   | No. of Post Offices   | Accounts opened (In Crores)   | Accounts opened (In Crores)   |
|-----------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| Urban                 | Rural                 | Urban                         | Rural                         |
| 15,599                | 1,41,001              | 22.41                         | 16.47                         |

Further, since the nationwide launch of IPPB (India Post Payments Bank) on September 1, 2018, the IPPB has enabled more than 1.36 Lakh Post Offices and 1.90 Lakh Postmen/Gramin Dak Sevaks to provide a complete suite of banking services at the doorstep of the  customer  providing  access  to  any  Aadhaar  linked  bank  account,  leading  to  an  increase  in rural  banking  infrastructure  by  almost  2.5  times.  The  sheer  ability  of  the  last  mile  doorstep banking service  providers  (Postmen/Gramin  Dak  Sevaks)  to  reach  every  village  on  an  almost daily basis has brought down the distance to access banking services to '0 kms', truly capturing the  essence  of  Aapka  Bank,  Aapke  Dwar.  As  on  10.03.2020,  IPPB  has  acquired  2.26  crores

customers have accumulated balance of Rs. 781 crores and have conducted financial transaction worth Rs. 14,191 crores. Further, 22.04 lakhs transactions of Aadhar Enabled Payment system (AePS) have been conducted involving Rs. 686 crores.

(b) The  requisite  training  has  been  imparted  to  the  postal  staff.  The  details  of  training imparted during last two years is as under-

| Financial Year                 | Postal staff trained   |
|--------------------------------|------------------------|
| 2018-2019                      | 1,61,991               |
| 2019-2020 (up to December-2019 | 55,287                 |

(c) The primary objective of the Post Office Small Savings has been to promote the habit of thrift  and  savings  among  citizens  of  the  country.  The  emphasis,  as  the  words  'small  savings' suggest, is to bring the small depositor into the fold of the savings movement. The Post Office Savings Bank has been the main vehicle for these plans across the length and breadth of India since its establishment.

(d) Yes, sir.  The money deposited/invested in Post Office Savings Schemes during the last three financial years is as under.

|   Sl. No. | Financial Year                | Amount Deposited/Invested (in Crores)   |
|-----------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|         1 | 2017-2018                     | 4,90,076.70                             |
|         2 | 2018-2019                     | 5,53,211.58                             |
|         3 | 2019-2020 (upto January-2020) | 5,47,523.65                             |

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