What are the Products and Services of IPPB or India Post Payment Bank

Date : 27.12.2016

What are the Products and Services of IPPB or India Post Payment Bank

IPPB is a public limited company under the Department of Posts with an independent Board of Directors. It will be headed by a Managing Director and CEO, and will set up a corporate head quarter and up to 650 branches to manage its functions on a day to day basis.               

 IPPB will leverage the physical and IT infrastructure of the Post office and be set up on a lean operating model. It will focus on low-cost, low-risk, technology based solutions to extend access to formal banking.

      1.   IPPB Payment Services

IPPB will provide the benefits of payments and remittances to the customers, by adopting newer, efficient processes and technologies such as mobile based payments, digital wallets and innovative payment and remittance products that are continuously emerging in the market today.

Combined with doorstep cash payment options like traditional money orders, IPPB will differentiate itself from the other players while comparing well with all other benefits offered by competitors.

IPPB will drive the benefits of financial inclusion by bringing a host of financial products to suit the needs of different strata of society with special focus on the marginalized sections and citizens in rural areas. In so doing it will also provide the following proposed services:

•    Direct Benefits transfer (DBT) of social security payments of various Ministries.

•    Utility bill payments for electricity, water, telephone, gas etc.

•    Facilitate payments of various Central and State Govt& Municipal dues, taxes and fees/taxes of various Universities/ educational institution.

•    Person to person remittances both domestic and cross-border. Special focus will be on providing, economical, safe and convenient money transfer facilities to migrant labourers, NRIs remitting money to relatives, institutions etc.

•    Demand Deposits (Current account and Savings Account)- with special focus on MSMEs, small entrepreneurs, village panchayats & SHGs.

•    Distribution of third party financial products such as Insurance (health & general), mutual funds and pension products.

•    Access to formal credit products by acting as BCs of banks & MFIs.

Product innovation will be a continuous exercise to expand the bouquet of services adapting to the evolving needs of its customers and the rapid advancements in communication and payments technologies.

2.   IPPB Banking Services

Apart from savings account with up to INR 1,00,000 in deposit, the products offered by IPPB are different from POSB products. POSB savings accounts do not have any limit unlike payments bank savings account. On the other hand, payments banks, can offer current accounts for use by businesses and institutions whereas POSB does not offer these accounts. Other kinds of deposits under POSB are unique to it and will not be on offer by the payments bank. The purpose of the savings accounts and current accounts of IPPB is to facilitate flow of money and payments of different kinds from Government to Citizen, Citizen to Government, Citizen to Citizen, Citizen to Businesses and Businesses to Citizens whereas the POSB accounts are mainly savings instruments.

Apart from the existing customers of the DoP, IPPB will focus on the underbanked and unbanked population in different parts of the country. It will also try to target services for MSMEs, senior citizens, students, migrant population, low income households, unorganized sector and other groups with special service requirements. In addition to its own products, the payments bank will partner with third parties to offer a wide range of financial and banking services to cater to the needs of its target segments.

The customers will have the choice of the amount they want to leave in their IPPB account at any point of time and they will earn interest on their money in these accounts also. They would be able to channel money from their IPPB accounts to any of the POSB schemes. For example, an IPPB customer will be able to use money in his account to open and service a RD/ TD/ SSY or any other POSB account. Thus, both IPPB and POSB can synergistically serve the customers.