ATMs For India Post?

Gearing up for commercial banking operations, India Post has announced to soon launch about 1,000 ATMs.

"We plan to roll out 3,000 ATM by FY18, of which 1,000 will be in the near future," Tewari said. The postal department is already running pilot ATMs in Chennai and Delhi.

The state-run India Post, which has one-and-a-half lakh post offices across the country, will make another effort to acquire banking licence. If it succeeds, it would mark a new beginning for the postal department. This would be its second attempt at this in two years.

"We are waiting to see how the final guidelines fit in with the organisation. We have invested around Rs 5,000 crore in technology since 2012. Already 676 postal offices are connected through CBS. By March 2016, 25,000 offices will be on CBS (core banking solution)," said Kalpana Tewari, member (planning and technology), Department of Post.

India Post has long been trying to leverage its vast network of branches by offering banking services across the country, especially in villages, but didn’t succeed. When RBI issued licenses last time, the postal department couldn’t explain how it would generate the required capital of Rs 500 crore.