By pass RBI, create India Post Bank through law, PM's task force told govt

PRESS NEWS:

A task force set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the operations of India’s postal department has mooted the creation of a full-fledged Postal bank.

The panel is headed by former cabinet secretary, TSR Subramanian and comprising of experts that includes former Infosys board member TV Mohandas Pai,

The recommendations will be submitted to the government soon, according to a government official in the know of the development. In fact, the task force has recommended to launch the proposed Post bank through an Act of the Parliament and not by approaching the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“The task force has is not in favour of permitting India Post to run a payments bank but wants the department to run a full-fledged commercial bank, which it believe will help push the cause of financial inclusion in the country,” the official said.

An announcement in this regard is likely to be made as early as Thursday at Dak Bhavan, the headquarters of department of postal services in Delhi, the official said.

The task force, set up in August, has also made several other recommendations to leverage the vast network of India Post and its local knowledge across regions in India, the official said.

For India Post, which has been cherishing the dream of becoming a bank, the Subramanian panel recommendation will be a huge boost for its demand for a full service banking permit.

The Postal department, which was among the 25 contenders for a full service banking licence last year, didn’t get into the final list since the UPA government at the time wasn’t keen on backing the move and refused to provide the department with the minimum capital required to set up a commercial bank.

Last year, while issuing licenses to IDFC and Bandhan, the RBI had observed that India Post can be given banking licence if government, technically the promoter of the proposed Post bank, gives its nod.

India Post has argued that the department’s entry to banking can contribute massively to the cause of financial inclusion, or the process of spreading banking services to the unbanked population of the country, using its vast network of 1,55,000 post offices.

Of its total network, about 1,39,040 post offices are in rural areas. Going by a 2011 estimate of the postal department, about 6,000 people are covered on average by post-offices in rural areas and about 24,000 in urban areas.

Through its various saving schemes, Postal department handles deposits to the tune of Rs 6,00,000 crore.

As Firstbiz noted earlier, India Post’s entry into banking can be game changer in rural banking given the massive reach of Post in the far-flung areas of the country and local knowledge.

The department has already commenced the process of linking all its branches through technology, besides setting up ATMs across the country.

The development has come at a time the RBI is opening up the banking sector to differentiated banks or banks with specific areas of focus such as payments banks and small banks. Payment banks can engage in accepting small deposits, offer ATM/debit cards, payments and remittance services through various channels. They can also offer financial products like mutual fund units and insurance products.

Small finance banks, on the other hand, are almost like full service commercial banks. However, these banks cannot engage in large value transactions since 75 percent of their loans must be lent to the so-called priority sector. For existing banks, this requirement is 40 percent. Also, at least 50 percent of their loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of up to Rs 25 lakh.

India Post, however, is not keen to set up a small bank or payments bank and, instead, wants a full service banking licence, the official quoted earlier said.