The Reserve Bank of India has given its nod to the India Post Payments Bank to begin operations. Operations are expected to start before March 31, and will eventually be rolled out in 650 districts using the network of 154,000 post offices. The IPPB is the third entity after Airtel, and Paytm payment banks to receive the central bank's approval.
AP Singh has been appointed as the interim managing director and CEO of the firm. A 1986 batch Indian Postal Service Officer, Singh was earlier joint secretary in the department of investment and public asset management. He has also served as the deputy director general in-charge of financial inclusion and payment systems in the founding team of UIDAI. He has also piloted projects like the Aadhaar enabled payments system, e-kyc, and direct benefit transfers.
The concept of payment banks was birthed by former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, who came up with the idea of differentiated bank licenses. These banks do not offer loans and several other facilities that are offered by full-fledged banks and are not allowed to accept deposits of over Rs 100,000. But, they can be of immense help in taking banking services across the country and in remote areas.
