|
The Department of Post plans to start 50 bank branches in the first
year and scale it up to 150 branches in five years.
|
NEW DELHI, OCT 20: The Department of
Posts (DoP) has lowered its estimate of funds that it needs to start banking
operations to about Rs 623 crore from its earlier projection of about Rs 1,900
crore, sources said.
The
proposal for Rs 623 crore includes Rs 500 crore that is required as paid-up
capital under the RBI’s new banking licence norms. The remaining amount is for
infrastructure that is needed to comply with the new norms.
The
DoP has applied for a banking licence. The Reserve Bank of India is expected to
issue licences to shortlisted entities in January 2014.
“The
DoP has lowered the proposal for funds it needs to start banking operations
from about Rs 1,900 crore estimated earlier to about Rs 623 crore,” a
government official told PTI.
The
Government has sent the DoP’s fund proposal to the Expenditure Finance
Committee. Once cleared by EFC, the proposal will be placed before the Cabinet
for final approval.
The
DoP plans to start 50 bank branches in the first year and scale it up to 150
branches in five years.
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.
Finance
Minister, P. Chidambaram, in this year’s Budget proposals had said post offices
would become part of the core banking solution (CBS) and offer real time
banking services.
He
had proposed a provision of Rs 532 crore for the project in 2013-14.
The
Post Banks are proposed to be owned by DoP but with a completely independent
board, governance structure and operations. It will have representation from
Ministries of Finance and Communication & IT.
(This article was published on October 20, 2013)
