Lok Sabha Question No. 1794 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-08
Subject: India Post Payment Bank
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Thomas Chazhikadan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1794 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

## INDIA POST PAYMENT BANK

## 1794.   SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) the plans that have been formulated till now for the development of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) into a profitable organization;

(b) the criteria undertaken by IPPB to tie up with a private company like Bajaj Insurance to sell products at a much lower rate; and

(c) whether the Government will reconsider the decision and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) India  Post  Payments  Bank  (IPPB)  has  been  established  to  leverage  the  vast  network  of Department of Posts for furthering the goal of financial inclusion and to improve delivery of citizen centric  public  services.  As  a  Payments  Bank,  its  revenue  is  derived  in  the  form  of  fee  levied  on transactions of various products & services. Accordingly, average revenue earned per user is a direct function of the range of products and services offered and their enhanced uptake. In this pursuit, IPPB is  constantly  working  to  enlarge  the  bouquet  of its  products  and service  offerings  and  increase their uptake. Current products and services offered by IPPB are attached as Annexure .

(b) IPPB is authorised by IRDA (Insurance Regulatory Development Authority) to carry out sale and distribution  of  Insurance  products  that  are  governed  under  the  provisions  of  IRDA  (Registration  of Corporate Agents) regulations, 2015. Accordingly,  IPPB has tied up with IRDA regulated insurance service  providers  (known as Bancassurance Partnership) to distribute insurance products through the extensive network of post offices as well as at the doorstep through Postmen/Gramin Dak Sevaks. Bajaj  Allianz  Life  Insurance  Corporation  being  a  IRDA  licensed  Insurance  services  provider  is permitted  to  tie  up  with  Regulated  entities  such  as  Banks  for  sale  and  distribution  of  its  Insurance products. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company was shortlisted through a bidding process among top ten  life  insurance  companies  (as  per  IRDA  data)  in  the  year  2018.  IPPB  in  partnership  with  Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company offers term and annuity insurance products to the customers of IPPB through the Department of Posts network.

(c) IPPB, as per  the  Bancassurance  partnership  norms  of  IRDA  is  permitted  to  partner  with  three Insurance  service  providers  under  each  Insurance  categories  such  as  Life,  General  and  Health.  The terms of such arrangements is guided and governed by the IRDA norms for such partnerships.

## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1794 FOR 08/12/2021 REGARDING INDIA POST PAYMENT BANK

Current products and services offered by India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) are as under:

- Paperless & Instant account opening
- Savings accounts for citizens including Aadhaar Seeding for DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) beneficiaries
- Current Accounts for merchants
- Virtual Debit Card
- Cash Deposit/ Cash Withdrawal services
- Domestic Money Transfer services - Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), National Electronic Funds  Transfer  (NEFT),  Real  Time  Gross  Settlement (RTGS),  Unified  Payment  Interface (UPI)
- Bill Payment services - Bill payment of utility bills, (Direct-to-Home) DTH/Mobile recharges, EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) payments, insurance etc.
- Insurance services for IPPB customers  - Life, Health, Vehicle insurance & Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)
- Post Office Savings Account (POSA) linkage with IPPB accounts
- Online  Payment  for  Post  Office  Savings  schemes  -  Public  Provident  Fund  (PPF),  Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), Recurring Deposit (RD)
- Digital Life Certificate (DLC) services - Facilitate submission of DLC for any pensioners of central/state/ Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
- Aadhaar  based  services  -  Mobile  Number  update  in  Aadhaar  for  any  citizen  and  Child Enrolment services for any child (0 - 5-year-old)
- Cash Management services - Collection of dues from customers of corporates/ govt. bodies

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