Soon, Post offices to be like banks

Under new project, select head post offices will have ATMs, offer internet and mobile banking.

Postal customers may soon be able to access their savings bank account in any post office in the city.

The department of posts is putting in place core banking solutions (CBS) at four of its head post offices in Chennai, and the process is expected to be completed by September. This means these post offices will become like banks and offer a range of services.

The head post offices on Anna Road and in T. Nagar, Mylapore and Tambaram will soon be networked via CBS, which is one of the postal department’s flagship projects.

At present, customers who have postal savings accounts have to go to the post office where their account is, to carry out any transaction. They also have to wait in long queues to withdraw cash or to get their monthly pensions.

But once CBS is implemented, customers can go to any post office covered under the system and carry out transactions. The project also envisages installing ATMs at these four post offices by October, so that their 2.5 lakh account-holders will be able to access their accounts at the swipe of a card.

Customers who have invested in savings certificates too, can encash them using CBS.

Officials of the postal department said they had tied up with Infosys to eventually implement CBS in 110 post offices across the city and its suburbs. Currently, software testing for the project is in progress.

Welcoming the move, 70-year-old D. Sriraman, a resident of Villivakkam, said this would benefit several people who now spend at least half an hour just to withdraw cash.  

The CBS project will be rolled out in all post offices over the next two years in a phased manner. Services offered will include internet banking, mobile banking and mobile transfer of money. The department also is mulling over a proposal to integrate other postal services with CBS.

Postmaster general, Chennai city region, Mervin Alexander said there are nearly 3.3 crore savings account-holders in the region. All postal employees are now being given extensive training in CBS, he added.    

Government likely to earmark Rs 1,300 crore for Post Bank of India

The government is likely to earmark Rs 1,300 crore for the India Post to enable it to make foray into the banking space. 

"The expenditure finance commission will meet this month and finalise the fund to be provided to India Post for the proposed Post Bank of India," a finance ministry official told PTI. 

The Department of Post, which has applied to the Reserve Bank for a new bank licence, had last month approached the finance ministry for sanctions of Rs 1,300 crore for its banking foray and to meet the capital requirements. 

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.

Retirement Age 62 – Cabinet decision to increase retirement age deferred

Cabinet decision to increase retirement age deferred

 

The government may make the announcement in the Prime Minister’s 15 August address…

A proposal to increase the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 62 years came to the Cabinet on Thursday but a decision was deferred. The government might make the announcement in the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address, his last before general elections in 2014. The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has proposed an increase in retirement age of government employees from 60 to 62 years, top sources confirmed.

 

There are around five million central government employees in India. The previous occassion the government raised the retirement age of central government employees was in 1998, from 58 to 60 years. The move is meant to ease the financial burden on the government in terms of its pension liabilities, sources said.

The retirement age of professors in all central universities was recently raised to 65 years. D L Sachdev, national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, said his union was totally against the increase of the retirement age beyond 60. It would hurt the youth, especially when the government is doing nothing to create jobs for them, Sachdev said.

 

Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress national president Sanjeeva Reddy said his union had been demanding increase in the retirement age to 62 years and would welcome it.

 

Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanaswami had ruled out an increase in the retirement age to a question in Parliament in the winter session this year. An official in the ministry, when asked, refused to speak about it.