India Post Payments Bank Offers Up To 5.5% On Deposits With No Conditions Attached
The government’s payments bank targets 650 branches by September 30 this year.
India Post Payments Bank will offer an interest rate of up to 5.5 percent on deposits, said Chief Executive Officer AP Singh on Monday.
Deposits up to Rs 25,000 will fetch an interest rate of 4.5 percent, deposits between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 will carry a 5 percent interest, and those between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh will attract the highest interest rate of 5.5 percent, Singh said.
The Department of Posts on Monday launched two branches of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in Raipur and Ranchi. BloombergQuint had reported on January 28 that IPPB will likely launch operations in these two branches on a pilot basis.
IPPB will open savings accounts, issue debit cards, and provide remittance services.
Around 1000 ATMS that are currently run by India Post will be transferred to IPPB, as per Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines. The payments bank targets 650 branches across several districts by September 30, 2017. The government has invested Rs 800 crore in IPPB, of which Rs 275 crore has already been released.
“By September 30, 2017, the wide network of post offices will enable us to make banking at doorstep a reality,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while announcing the launch of the two branches.
On other players offering more interest rates, Singh said, “We will only put our money in government securities, from which we get 6.7 percent interest pre-tax. Post tax it comes to around 5 percent. Anyone who is giving anything more, good luck to them,” Singh told reporters.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel was the first to launch a payments bank with introductory offer of 7.25 percent on deposits.
Singh said IPPB is targeting a “universal customer base” which might be in terms of one-time transactions or a prepaid account. “…What we’re looking at is, everyone in the country should be using us in one way or the other, our focus is really on deposits and not making deposits,” he said.
“We are not here for competition, we’re here to support everyone,” Singh said, adding that IPPB’s aim is to promote assisted digital banking platform be it customers of any bank.