Postal customers can use bank ATMs soon

India Post savings bank account holders will be able to withdraw money from any public or private bank ATMs soon with ATM cards issued by the department as the Centre has cleared the proposal for the setting up of the country’s largest Post Bank of India.

Currently, people with accounts in the Postal Department can use India Post ATMs from anywhere in the country, Senior Superintendent of Posts P. Vishwanatham told The Hindu after launching an India Post ATM here.

Equipped with a wide network of core banking solution (CBS) branches, India Post had bagged the licence for starting a payments Bank. Efforts were being made to link up its ATMs with those of the commercial banks and the same would materialise in a year’s time to enable withdrawal of cash by India Post savings bank account holders from other bank ATMs too without any hassles, said its Head Postmaster here P.Venkateswara Rao after issuing ATM cards to 700 account holders here.

Pensioners and other savings bank account holders, including Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) account holders with the postal department need not hence-forth wait in long queues for withdrawal of cash. They could withdraw up to a maximum of Rs.10,000 at a time from any other ATM of India Post with the ATM card issued to them, Mr. Rao said and added India Post geared up to provide a host of financial services through its network of post offices in the coming years.

ATMs would be set up in all head post offices to start with, they said ahead of the launch of ATMs in Chirala and Addanki in Prakasam district.

The facility would be extended to all sub-post offices and latter to other post offices at the grassroots level in phased manner, they said. The department planned to set up one ATM in every post office in the country over a period to take banking services to rural areas, they added.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/