India Post is now among fastest growing digital payment banks in country

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has proved to be a significant step of the Modi government. The government’s initiative of financial inclusion has got a big boost with this scheme.

According to the Ministry of Communications, “What was termed as the biggest initiative of financial inclusion in the country by the Prime Minister at its launch, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), a ‘Digital-First Bank’ built on the rails of wide physical distribution network of India Post under the Ministry of Communication, Government of India, has announced a major milestone since inception towards achieving its financial inclusion goals through digital banking.”

In a press statement, the Ministry said, “IPPB announced that it has crossed the five-crore customer mark in 3 years of commencement of operations to become one of the fastest growing digital payments bank in the country.”

It added, “IPPB opened up these five crore accounts in digital and paperless mode through its 1.36 lakh Post Offices, out of which 1.20 lakh are in rural areas with the help of about 1.47 lakhs doorstep banking service providers. With this, IPPB has achieved the world’s largest digital financial literacy programme by building a financially aware and empowered customer-base leveraging the strength of 2,80,000 Post Office employees. IPPB has further stated that it has taken the digital banking to the grassroots-levels through Interoperable Payments and Settlement Systems of NPCI, RBI and UIDAI offering services in over 13 languages.”

The Ministry further informs that out of the total account holders, around 48% were women account holders; while 52% were male that indicated the Bank’s focus on bringing the women customers under the banking network. About 98% of accounts of women were opened at the doorsteps and over 68% of women were availing DBT benefits.