 Around 96 per cent of post offices across the country have been brought under the core banking system (CBS), in order to implement the "Anytime-Anywhere Post Office Savings" service.
There are a total of 1,58,526 post offices in India, out of which 1, 52,514 post offices or 96 per cent of them have already been brought under the CBS, official sources informed
Government has said that it is in the process of setting up the Anytime-Anywhere Post Office Savings scheme, which will allow online transfer of funds between postal and bank accounts.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her speech while presenting the budget for 2022-23 on February 1, 2022 that "100 per cent of 1.5 lakh post offices will come on the CBS enabling financial inclusion and access to accounts through net banking, mobile banking, ATMs, and also provide online transfer of funds between post office accounts and bank accounts".
This will not only help the existing post office savings account holders but also encourage new individuals to open up a savings account with ease, sources said.
The government is also working towards providing national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) and real time gross settlement (RTGS) facilities for online transfer of funds from post office accounts to bank accounts and vice versa, official sources said. In addition to this, the government is also taking steps to provide connectivity via intermediate data rate (IDR) connectivity, virtual private network (VPN) connection and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) connectivity. It is also ensuring provision of subscriber identification module (SIM) based handheld and point of sale (PoS) devices in identified post offices located in rural and hilly areas, official sources said.
These facilities will help allow smooth implementation of the Anytime-Anywhere Post Office Savings service. |
