Thursday 23 February 2017
Monday 20 February 2017
Apply for passports at select post offices from next month
The External Affairs Ministry is making all required arrangements for
roll-out of the scheme in some of the select cities in first half of
March.
From next month, people in select cities will be able to apply for
passports in post offices under an ambitious initiative of the External
Affairs Ministry. This is aimed at making the passport issuance process
hassle-free and ease burden on passport offices across the country which
are grappling with large volume of applications. In the first phase of
the project, passport services will be made available in select post
offices in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Jharkhand
and some other states.
The External Affairs Ministry, which issues passports, is making all
required arrangements for roll-out of the scheme in some of the select
cities in first half of March. Currently, 89 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK)
are operating across the country as extended arms of the 38 Passport
Offices. According to the MEA, the government rendered 1.15 crore
passport and other related services during 2016.
In Rajasthan, passport services will be available in Kota, Jaisalmer,
Bikaner, Jhunjhunu and Jhalawar while in West Bengal it will be in
Asansol, Nadia, North Dinajpur North Kolkata. In Jharkhand, services
will be offered in Deoghar, Jamshedpur and Dhandbad. “It is our effort
that Post Office Passport Sewa Kendras announced in the first phase
should start functioning before 31.3.2017,” External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
In Tamil Nadu, passport services in post office will be rolled out in
Salem and Vellore while in Karnataka, it will be in Belgaum, Davangere,
Hassan, Gulbarga and Mysuru. According to MEA, the objective of the
government has been to cater to the demand for passports and to reach
out to the people located far away from the passport offices. The MEA
had recently liberalised norms for certain categories of citizens as
part of efforts to streamline the passport issuance process.
Wednesday 15 February 2017
Thursday 9 February 2017
INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK WILL BE A GAME CHANGER FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION-MANOJ SINHA
IPPB branches launched in Ranchi & Raipur
Finance
Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley and Minister of Communications Shri Manoj
Sinha launched the operations of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
here today as two pilot branches at Raipur and Ranchi through video
conferencing from Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Jaitley said that about 650 IPPB
branches will be opened by September this year and that will have a
multiplier impact as far as banking in India is concerned. He said with
IPPB, banking at the doorstep will no longer remain a mere slogan, but
will become a reality due to huge postal network in the country. He said
that financial Inclusion is critical for the socio-economic development
of the country, but there are significant gaps in this area and a large
proportion of country’s population remain unbanked or underbanked. IPPB
will effectively leverage the ubiquitous post office network with its
pan-India physical presence, long experience in cash handling and
savings mobilization, backed by the ongoing project of IT-enablement, to
bridge this gap in Financial Inclusion.
In his address, Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha has
commended the hard work done by the Department of Posts in setting up
the India Post Payments Bank and hoped that both organizations will work
in tandem to take the benefits of government schemes and financial
services that are not easily available in rural areas to customers
across the country and to the marginalized population in urban and rural
areas alike. He said, the objective of IPPB will be public service
rather than promoting commercial interests.
Secretary, Department of Posts, Shri B.V.Sudhakar said that the IPPB is
widely expected to be a game changer for financial inclusion in the
country as the USP of this initiative is doorstep banking, particularly
in the rural areas.
As mandated by the RBI, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) would focus
on providing basic financial services such as all kinds of payments;
including social security payments, utility bill payments, person to
person remittances (both domestic and cross-border), current and savings
accounts up to a balance of Rs 1 lac, distribution of insurance, mutual
funds, pension products and acting as business correspondent to other
banks for credit products especially in rural areas and among the
underserved segments of the society.
Set up us a 100% Government of India owned Public Limited Company under
the Department of Posts, it will open around 650 branches in district
HQ locations. All 1.55 lacs post offices including the 1.39 lac of the
rural post offices will be mapped to the IPPB branch at the district
headquarter and function as access points for IPPB. IPPB will usher in
state of the art internet and mobile banking platforms, digital wallets
and use innovative and emerging technologies to catalyse the shift from a
cash dominant to a less cash economy.
While many other banks and financial institutions are working on the
same theme, the USP of IPPB will be its ability to ease access and
handhold the adoption of new age banking and payments instruments among
citizen of all walks of life through the delivery by postmen and Grameen
Dak sevaks, savings agents and other franchisees who will take banking
to door steps. IPPB thus aspires to the most accessible, affordable and
trusted bank for the common man with the motto - “No customer is too
small, no transaction too insignificant, and no deposit too little”.
Given ‘in principle’ approval by the RBI along with 10 other aspirants
on 19th Aug 2015, IPPB received the cabinet’s approval on 1st June, 2016
and was incorporated as on 17th Sept, 2106. Today it became the second
payments bank to launch its operations. Having got its final banking
license from the RBI on the 20th Jan 2017 it has commenced operations in
record time of 10 days in partnership with the Punjab National Bank,
after obtaining all necessary approvals and registrations from the RBI,
NPCI etc.
A commemorative stamp and a logo of the new bank were also launched on the occasion.
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