Lok Sabha Question No. 3146 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-16
Subject: Multi Faceted Post Offices
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: HARI MANJHI, AJAY (TENI) MISRA, SRIRAM MALYADRI, ARKA KESHARI DEO, Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh, MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH, E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3146 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16 th  MARCH, 2016

## MULTI FACETED POST OFFICES

†3146. SHRI HARI MANJHI:

SHRI AJAY MISRA TENI:

SHRI MALYADRI SRIRAM:

SHRI ARKA KESHARI DEO:

SHRIMATI PRATYUSHA RAJESHWARI SINGH:

SHRIMATI MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH:

SHRI E.T. MOHAMMED BASHEER:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has upgraded or proposes to upgrade the post offices into a multi-facility provider  unit  like  ATM/Money  Transfer/foreign  exchange/core banking etc. to attract more and more people to make it economically viable;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  introduced  several  financial  services  in  the  post offices in both urban and rural areas, if so, the details of such services along with the number of post offices offering such services, State-wise;
- (d) the  present  status  of  setting  up  of  Post  Banks  and  the  services  likely  to  be rendered  by  these  banks  along  with  the  training  provided/  likely  to  be  provided  to employees for the purpose; and
- (e) the  details  of  debit  cards  issued  by  the  post  offices  to  the  post  office  account holders, State-wise?

Contd…2/-

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) Yes, Madam

(b) The Post Offices are functioning as multi facility provider unit as various services and products are made available for the benefit of the customers. The details of some of the facilities are as below:-

## (i)  Core Banking Solutions:-

Department of Posts is implementing Core Banking Solution (CBS) in all departmental post offices as part of the IT Modernization Project that aims to bring in various IT solutions with the required IT infrastructure to the post offices. This includes provision of ATM facility also for POSB customers. As of now CBS has been implemented in 19417 post offices and 652 ATMs have been installed at major post offices across the country. All Small Savings Schemes are available to the customers in all CBS Post Offices. DoP has issued 133486 ATM/Debit cards to POSB customers. Circle wise detail of number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs is as given in Annexure-A.

## (ii) Money Transfer:-

DoP is already providing domestic money remittance service like Electronic Money Order, Instant Money Order and Mobile Money Order. In addition to domestic money remittance services DoP is also  providing  Inward  International  Money  Transfer  Services  in  association  with  Western  Union (through 9943 post offices) and Money Gram (through 6135 post offices).

## (iii) Foreign Exchange:-

The Department of Posts has got Authorized Dealer Category - II (AD Category - II) license from Reserve Bank of India for doing foreign exchange business. For this purpose, RBI has approved 1000 locations (Post Offices) across the country.

## (iv) Premium Services:-

In  addition  to  the  traditional  Mail  Products  transmission  Department  of  Posts  also  provides  a number of premium services like Speed Post, Express Parcel, Business Parcel, Logistics Posts, Retail Post, E Post etc. to generate additional revenue for the Department.

(c) Yes Madam. Government has introduced several financial services in Post offices in both Urban and Rural areas.

- (i) The following Savings Schemes are available in post offices :-
- 1) Savings Bank Account,
- 2) Recurring Deposit Account,
- 3) Term Deposit Account (1, 2, 3 and 5 years),
- 4) Monthly Income Scheme Account,
- 5) Senior Citizen Savings Scheme Account,
- 6) Public Provident Fund Account,
- 7)  5 Years National Savings Certificates,
- 8) Kisan Vikas Patra
- 9) Sukanya Samriddhi Account

All the above schemes are available in Head Post Offices and Sub Post Offices. The Branch Post Offices are offering the schemes mentioned at Serial numbers 1, 2, 3 and 9 only. The state-wise list of Post Offices is enclosed (Annexure-B).

- (ii) Three  Jan  Suraksha  Schemes,  namely  Pradhan  Mantri  Suraksha  Bima  Yojana  (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have also been introduced in CBS post offices, in 2015.
- (iii) Life Insurance facility is being provided through urban and rural post offices.  Different plans under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) are as follows:-

| Name of Scheme                   | PLI            | RPLI                |
|----------------------------------|----------------|---------------------|
| Whole Life Assurance             | Suraksha       | Gram Suraksha       |
| Convertible Whole Life Assurance | Suvidha        | Gram Suvidha        |
| Endowment Assurance              | Santosh        | Gram Santosh        |
| Anticipated Endowment Assurance  | Sumangal       | Gram Sumangal       |
| Joint Life Assurance             | Yugal Suraksha | NA                  |
| Children's Policy                | Bal Jiwan Bima | Gram Bal Jiwan Bima |
| 10 Years RPLI                    | NA             | Gram Priya          |

(d) The  Department  of  Posts  is  seeking  approval  of  the  Cabinet  Committee  on  Economic  Affairs (CCEA) for setting up of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB). The Public Investment Board (PIB) has already approved and recommended the proposal for consideration of CCEA.

The  India  Post  Payments  Bank  is  likely  to  drive  the  benefits  of  financial  inclusion  by  bringing various  financial  products  to  suit  the  needs  of  different  strata  of  society  with  special  focus  on  the marginalized sections and citizens in rural areas. The following services are likely to be provided:-

- (i) Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) of social security payments of various Ministries,
- (ii) Utility bill payments for electricity, water, telephone, gas etc.,
- (iii) Payments  of  various  Central  and  State  Govt.  &  Municipal  dues  and  fees  of  various Universities/ Educational Institutions
- (iv) Person  to  person  remittances  both  domestic  and  cross-border-  special  focus  will  be  on providing, economical, safe and convenient money transfer facilities to migrant labourers, NRIs remitting money to relatives, institutions etc.
- (v) Demand Deposits (Current Account and Savings Account)- with special focus on MSMEs, small entrepreneurs, Village Panchayats & SHGs
- (vi) Distribution of third party financial products such as Insurance (health & general), Mutual Funds and Pension products
- (vii) Access to formal credit products by acting as Banking Correspondent of banks & MFIs

Along  with  the  constant  in-service  training  provided  by  the  Department  to  its  employees,  a series of training programmes for employee at all levels are likely to be organized to prepare them for smooth delivery of services by the India Post Payments Bank.

(e) The  details  of  debit  cards  issued  by  the  post  offices  to  post  office  account  holders  (State Wise) is  as under:-

|   S.No. | State             |   No. of Debit Cards issued to POSB Customers |
|---------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
|       1 | ANDHRA PRADESH    |                                          9077 |
|       2 | ARUNACHAL PRADESH |                                             0 |
|       3 | ASSAM             |                                          2908 |
|       4 | BIHAR             |                                          4421 |

| 5     | CHATTISGARH      |   2274 |
|-------|------------------|--------|
| 6     | DELHI            |   5755 |
| 7     | GOA              |     90 |
| 8     | GUJARAT          |   4307 |
| 9     | HARYANA          |   2611 |
| 10    | HIMACHAL PRADESH |   1547 |
| 11    | JAMMU & KASHMIR  |     19 |
| 12    | JHARKHAND        |   1939 |
| 13    | KARNATAKA        |  10865 |
| 14    | KERALA           |    569 |
| 15    | MADHYA PRADESH   |   9612 |
| 16    | MAHARASHTRA      |  15384 |
| 17    | MANIPUR          |      0 |
| 18    | MEGHALAYA        |    403 |
| 19    | MIZORAM          |      0 |
| 20    | NAGALAND         |      0 |
| 21    | ORISSA           |   3934 |
| 22    | PUNJAB           |   3234 |
| 23    | RAJASTHAN        |  10582 |
| 24    | TAMILNADU        |  26735 |
| 25    | TELANGANA        |   6986 |
| 26    | TRIPURA          |      0 |
| 27    | UTTAR PRADESH    |   7889 |
| 28    | UTTRAKHAND       |    522 |
| 29    | WEST BENGAL      |   1823 |
| TOTAL |                  | 133486 |

## Annexure-A

| Details of Number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs                                                     | Details of Number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs   | Details of Number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs   | Details of Number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs   | Details of Number of CBS Post Offices and ATMs   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Name of the Postal Circle                                                                          | HOs                                              | SOs                                              | Total Number of CBS Offices                      | No. of ATMs Installed                            |
| Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana)                                                               | 95                                               | 1718                                             | 1813                                             | 66                                               |
| Assam                                                                                              | 19                                               | 480                                              | 499                                              | 5                                                |
| Bihar                                                                                              | 32                                               | 574                                              | 606                                              | 27                                               |
| Chhattisgarh                                                                                       | 9                                                | 195                                              | 204                                              | 13                                               |
| Delhi                                                                                              | 12                                               | 362                                              | 374                                              | 24                                               |
| Gujarat                                                                                            | 34                                               | 1073                                             | 1107                                             | 26                                               |
| Haryana                                                                                            | 16                                               | 347                                              | 363                                              | 18                                               |
| Himachal Pradesh                                                                                   | 17                                               | 336                                              | 353                                              | 8                                                |
| Jammu & Kashmir                                                                                    | 8                                                | 52                                               | 60                                               | 3                                                |
| Jharkhand                                                                                          | 13                                               | 233                                              | 246                                              | 8                                                |
| Karnataka                                                                                          | 58                                               | 1604                                             | 1662                                             | 69                                               |
| Kerala                                                                                             | 51                                               | 1326                                             | 1377                                             | 13                                               |
| Madhya Pradesh                                                                                     | 43                                               | 922                                              | 965                                              | 34                                               |
| Maharashtra (including Goa)                                                                        | 61                                               | 1969                                             | 2030                                             | 60                                               |
| North East (includes states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh & Nagaland) | 9                                                | 92                                               | 101                                              | 1                                                |
| Odisha                                                                                             | 35                                               | 759                                              | 794                                              | 33                                               |
| Punjab                                                                                             | 22                                               | 536                                              | 558                                              | 23                                               |
| Rajasthan                                                                                          | 48                                               | 1200                                             | 1248                                             | 63                                               |
| Tamilnadu                                                                                          | 94                                               | 2384                                             | 2478                                             | 83                                               |
| Uttarakhand                                                                                        | 13                                               | 123                                              | 136                                              | 8                                                |
| Uttar Pradesh                                                                                      | 72                                               | 1993                                             | 2065                                             | 46                                               |
| West Bengal (including Sikkim)                                                                     | 46                                               | 1021                                             | 1067                                             | 14                                               |
| TOTAL                                                                                              | 807                                              | 19299                                            | 20106                                            | 645                                              |

|      |                                                                                                            |       |             |                         |                         |        |             |                                             |                                             | Annexure-B                                  |
|------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------|-------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|--------|-------------|---------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
|      |                                                                                                            |       |             | State and Category-wise | State and Category-wise | Number | Number      | functional in the country (as on 31.3.2015) | functional in the country (as on 31.3.2015) | functional in the country (as on 31.3.2015) |
|      |                                                                                                            | Head  | Post Office | Sub - Post Office       | Sub - Post Office       | Branch | Post Office | Total Post Offices Total No.                | Total Post Offices Total No.                | Total Post Offices Total No.                |
| S.No | Name of the State                                                                                          | Urban | Rural       | Urban                   | Rural                   | Urban  | Rural       | Urban                                       | Rural                                       | of Post Offices                             |
| 1    | Andhra Pradesh                                                                                             | 56    | 3           | 583                     | 950                     | 134    | 8649        | 773                                         | 9602                                        | 10375                                       |
| 2    | Telangana                                                                                                  | 35    | 1           | 388                     | 429                     | 159    | 4768        | 582                                         | 5198                                        | 5780                                        |
| 3    | Assam                                                                                                      | 19    | 0           | 211                     | 396                     | 135    | 3251        | 365                                         | 3647                                        | 4012                                        |
| 4    | Bihar                                                                                                      | 30    | 1           | 398                     | 622                     | 45     | 7971        | 473                                         | 8594                                        | 9067                                        |
| 5    | Chhattisgarh                                                                                               | 10    | 0           | 238                     | 99                      | 20     | 2780        | 268                                         | 2879                                        | 3147                                        |
| 6    | Delhi                                                                                                      | 12    | 0           | 387                     | 4                       | 69     | 79          | 468                                         | 83                                          | 551                                         |
| 7    | Gujarat                                                                                                    | 34    | 0           | 660                     | 645                     | 95     | 7549        | 789                                         | 8194                                        | 8983                                        |
| 8    | Haryana                                                                                                    | 16    | 0           | 301                     | 180                     | 28     | 2152        | 345                                         | 2332                                        | 2677                                        |
| 9    | Himachal Pradesh                                                                                           | 15    | 3           | 97                      | 351                     | 6      | 2310        | 118                                         | 2664                                        | 2782                                        |
| 10   | Jammu & Kashmir                                                                                            | 9     | 0           | 163                     | 93                      | 25     | 1409        | 197                                         | 1502                                        | 1699                                        |
| 11   | Jharkhand                                                                                                  | 13    | 0           | 221                     | 222                     | 30     | 2613        | 264                                         | 2835                                        | 3099                                        |
| 12   | Karnataka                                                                                                  | 58    | 0           | 817                     | 837                     | 179    | 7776        | 1054                                        | 8613                                        | 9667                                        |
| 13   | Kerala                                                                                                     | 45    | 6           | 480                     | 977                     | 337    | 3223        | 862                                         | 4206                                        | 5068                                        |
| 14   | Madhya Pradesh                                                                                             | 43    | 0           | 688                     | 332                     | 104    | 7156        | 835                                         | 7488                                        | 8323                                        |
| 15   | Maharashtra                                                                                                | 58    | 1           | 1081                    | 971                     | 102    | 10388       | 1241                                        | 11360                                       | 12601                                       |
| 16   | Goa                                                                                                        | 2     | 0           | 45                      | 57                      | 7      | 147         | 54                                          | 204                                         | 258                                         |
| 17   | North East (includes 6 states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) | 9     | 0           | 137                     | 189                     | 82     | 2503        | 228                                         | 2692                                        | 2920                                        |
| 18   | Odisha                                                                                                     | 35    | 0           | 502                     | 661                     | 56     | 6915        | 593                                         | 7576                                        | 8169                                        |
| 19   | Punjab                                                                                                     | 22    | 0           | 409                     | 331                     | 14     | 3080        | 445                                         | 3411                                        | 3856                                        |
| 20   | Rajasthan                                                                                                  | 47    | 1           | 585                     | 716                     | 27     | 8953        | 659                                         | 9670                                        | 10329                                       |
| 21   | Tamil Nadu                                                                                                 | 94    | 0           | 1410                    | 1322                    | 357    | 8947        | 1861                                        | 10269                                       | 12130                                       |
| 22   | Uttarakhand                                                                                                | 13    | 0           | 180                     | 200                     | 14     | 2316        | 207                                         | 2516                                        | 2723                                        |
| 23   | Uttar Pradesh                                                                                              | 72    | 0           | 1604                    | 867                     | 249    | 14863       | 1925                                        | 15730                                       | 17655                                       |
| 24   | West Bengal                                                                                                | 46    | 0           | 934                     | 759                     | 119    | 7001        | 1099                                        | 7760                                        | 8859                                        |
| 25   | Sikkim                                                                                                     | 1     | 0           | 11                      | 11                      | 0      | 186         | 12                                          | 197                                         | 209                                         |
|      |                                                                                                            |       |             | 12530                   | 12221                   | 2393   |             | 15717                                       | 139222                                      | 154939                                      |
|      | Total                                                                                                      | 794   | 16          |                         |                         |        | 126985      |                                             |                                             |                                             |

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