Monday, January 30, 2017
India Post Payments Bank will be a game changer for financial inclusion-Manoj Sinha
IPPB branches launched in Ranchi & Raipur
Finance
Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley and Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha
launched the operations of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) here today as
two pilot branches at Raipur and Ranchi through video conferencing from Delhi.
Speaking
on the occasion, Shri Jaitley said that about 650 IPPB branches will be opened
by September this year and that will have a multiplier impact as far as banking
in India is concerned. He said with IPPB, banking at the doorstep will no
longer remain a mere slogan, but will become a reality due to huge postal
network in the country. He said that financial Inclusion is critical for the
socio-economic development of the country, but there are significant gaps in
this area and a large proportion of country’s population remain unbanked or
underbanked. IPPB will effectively leverage the ubiquitous post office network
with its pan-India physical presence, long experience in cash handling and
savings mobilization, backed by the ongoing project of IT-enablement, to bridge
this gap in Financial Inclusion.
In
his address, Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha has commended the hard
work done by the Department of Posts in setting up the India Post Payments Bank
and hoped that both organizations will work in tandem to take the benefits of
government schemes and financial services that are not easily available in
rural areas to customers across the country and to the marginalized population
in urban and rural areas alike. He said, the objective of IPPB will be public
service rather than promoting commercial interests.
Secretary,
Department of Posts, Shri B.V.Sudhakar said that the IPPB is widely expected to
be a game changer for financial inclusion in the country as the USP of this
initiative is doorstep banking, particularly in the rural areas.
As
mandated by the RBI, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) would focus on
providing basic financial services such as all kinds of payments; including
social security payments, utility bill payments, person to person remittances
(both domestic and cross-border), current and savings accounts up to a balance
of Rs 1 lac, distribution of insurance, mutual funds, pension products and
acting as business correspondent to other banks for credit products especially
in rural areas and among the underserved segments of the society.
Set
up us a 100% Government of India owned Public Limited Company under the
Department of Posts, it will open around 650 branches in district HQ locations.
All 1.55 lacs post offices including the 1.39 lac of the rural post offices
will be mapped to the IPPB branch at the district headquarter and function as
access points for IPPB. IPPB will usher in state of the art internet and mobile
banking platforms, digital wallets and use innovative and emerging technologies
to catalyse the shift from a cash dominant to a less cash economy.
While
many other banks and financial institutions are working on the same theme, the
USP of IPPB will be its ability to ease access and handhold the adoption of new
age banking and payments instruments among citizen of all walks of life through
the delivery by postmen and Grameen Dak sevaks, savings agents and other
franchisees who will take banking to door steps. IPPB thus aspires to the most
accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man with the motto - “No
customer is too small, no transaction too insignificant, and no deposit too
little”.
Given
‘in principle’ approval by the RBI along with 10 other aspirants on 19th Aug
2015, IPPB received the cabinet’s approval on 1st June, 2016 and was
incorporated as on 17th Sept, 2106. Today it became the second payments bank to
launch its operations. Having got its final banking license from the RBI on the
20th Jan 2017 it has commenced operations in record time of 10 days in
partnership with the Punjab National Bank, after obtaining all necessary
approvals and registrations from the RBI, NPCI etc.
A
commemorative stamp and a logo of the new bank were also launched on the
occasion.
 |
| The Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha addressing at the launch of the India Post Payments Bank branches, through video conferencing from National Media Centre, New Delhi on January 30, 2017. The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley and other dignitaries are also seen. |
 |
| The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley and the Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha jointly launching the India Post Payments Bank branches, through video conferencing from National Media Centre, New Delhi on January 30, 2017. |
 |
| The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley and the Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha releasing a commemorative stamp, at the launch of the India Post Payments Bank branches, through video conferencing from National Media Centre, New Delhi on January 30, 2017. |
OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE OF RICT DEVICE:
Click
below link to download RICT materials
CLICK
HERE FOR FULL DETAILS
The
introduction of Hand-held Device viz., Main Computing Device (MCD) with all its
peripherals going to be used in Branch Post Offices is well presented for the
information of GDS and all others.
This
gives us preliminary information along with some theoretical knowledge (for
unaware GDS) & practical knowledge (for those who are in good practice in
some Circles/Divisions) over the MCD (Hand-held Device) and its usage in BOs.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
India Post Payments Bank gets RBI nod to start ops
TNN | Jan 28, 2017
NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its nod to the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to start operations. The government has also appointed an interim CEO, who will help set up the entity.
IPPB is the third entity (got final licence from RBI on January 20) after Airtel and Paytm payment banks to get the central bank's approval, sources said. Operations are expected to start before March 31 and will be gradually rolled out in 650 districts using the network of 1.54 lakh post offices.
The government has appointed A P Singh as the interim managing director and CEO of IPPB. A 1986 batch Indian Postal Service officer, Singh was earlier joint secretary in the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM). He has also served as the deputy director general in-charge of financial inclusion and payment systems in the founding team of UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India). The Aadhaar enabled payments system, e-kyc (electronic know your customer) and direct benefit transfers were piloted by him.
Payments banks are brainchild of former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, who came up with the idea of differentiated bank licences. These banks do not offer loans and several other facilities that are offered by full-fledged banks and are not allowed to accept deposits over Rs 1 lakh. But, they can be of immense help in taking banking services across the country and in remote areas.
Earlier this month, Airtel Payments Bank launched nationwide operations, offering 7.25% interest on savings, which is more than maximum 7% paid by SBI on FDs. Paytm is expected to start operations of its payments bank next month.
The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been incorporated as a public limited company under the department of posts with 100% equity from the government.
It will offer demand deposits such as savings and current accounts up to Rs 1 lakh, digitally-enabled payments and remittance services of all kinds between entities and individuals and also provide access to third party financial services such as insurance, mutual funds, pension, credit products, forex, and more, in partnership with insurance companies, mutual fund houses, pension providers, banks, international money transfer organisations, according to its website.
The postal payment bank will use postmen to help deliver banking services. The huge network of post offices provides enough muscle to the new player and it has also drawn up plans to offer services through internet and mobile banking, and pre-paid instruments such as mobile wallets, debit cards, ATMs, PoS (point of sale) and MPoS (mobile point of sale) terminals. Postmen will trained in soft skills to be able to carry out banking operations.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Retirement in the month of January 2017
Following officers are retiring from
Govt. service on superannuation on 31/1/2017.
|
S.No.
|
Name
of officer S/Shri
|
Designation
& Office
|
Circle
|
|
1
|
Shri
T. Murthy
|
Director
General
|
Directorate
|
|
2
|
Ramlingam
R
|
SPOs,
Ooty Division
|
Tamil
Nadu
|
|
3
|
N
S Wankhede
|
SSPOs,
Satara Division
|
Maharashtra
|
|
4
|
S
P Deviyal
|
|
Uttarakhand
|
|
5
|
L.
Aamala Chandran
|
Chief
PM, Chennai GPO
|
Tamil
Nadu
|
|
6
|
Sunil
Kumar Sinha
|
AD
o/o PMG North Region, Muzaffarpur
|
Bihar
|
|
7
|
Kaibalya
Prasad Parida
|
|
Odisha
|
|
9
|
Tarakant
Roy
|
SPOs,
Begusarai Division
|
Bihar
|
|
10
|
Sudhinra
Rao K
|
|
Andhra
Pradesh
|
|
11
|
A. S. Rathore
|
SSPOs,
Gwalior Division
|
Madhya
Pradesh
|
|
12
|
M.
L. Verma
|
SRM,
Indore Division
|
Madhya
Pradesh
|
CHQ
is wishing them happy, healthy and peaceful retired life.
650 districts in country to have post office PSKs
Mysuru: January
26, 2017
The
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has drawn up ambitious plans of opening post
office Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in 650 districts across the country soon.
Disclosing this during the inauguration of a post office PSK here on Wednesday, MEA Secretary D.M. Mulay said the MEA was planning to collaborate with the Department of Posts by opening PSKs at district level across the country to meet the growing demand for passports. The demand for passports in India, which is around 2 crore a year, was the third highest in the world after China and the U.S. A total of 60,000 passports are issued every day in the country, he added.
While there are a total of 89 PSKs in the country, the first two post office PSKs were opened at the Metagalli Post office in Mysuru and the Head Post office at Dahod in Gujarat in pilot mode on Wednesday.
Disclosing this during the inauguration of a post office PSK here on Wednesday, MEA Secretary D.M. Mulay said the MEA was planning to collaborate with the Department of Posts by opening PSKs at district level across the country to meet the growing demand for passports. The demand for passports in India, which is around 2 crore a year, was the third highest in the world after China and the U.S. A total of 60,000 passports are issued every day in the country, he added.
While there are a total of 89 PSKs in the country, the first two post office PSKs were opened at the Metagalli Post office in Mysuru and the Head Post office at Dahod in Gujarat in pilot mode on Wednesday.
Usha Chandrashekar, member, Postal Services Board, who was also present at the inauguration, said the postal officials will be processing the applications for verification of documents and obtaining the photographs and biometrics of the applicants at the post office PSKs.
The Department of Posts, which was earlier only handling posts, has also been handling a variety of other services, including delivering e-commerce parcels, insurance, social security products, and agricultural seeds. Now, it will be handling delivery of passport-related services in an IT-enabled manner, she added.
Union
Minister Ananth Kumar, who inaugurated the post office PSK in Mysuru, hoped
that all the districts of the country will have a PSK in one year’s time and
appreciated Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s initiative in the
regard.
Pratap
Simha, MP, recalled that the demand for a PSK for Mysuru was the first issue on
which he had spoken in the Parliament after his election. He revealed that the
decision to start a post office PSK in Mysuru from Wednesday was taken only
last Friday and appreciated the officials of the Regional Passport Office,
Bengaluru, led by RPO P.S. Karthigeyan for making the necessary arrangements in
quick time.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Extending Outreach of Passport Services through Network of Post Offices
The
Passport Seva Project (PSP), an ambitious Mission Mode Project of the
Government of India, is being successfully run in the Public Private
Partnership (PPP) mode as part of the National e-Governance Plan. It has
emerged as one of the most noticeable statutory and citizen-centric services
being rendered by the Government. M/s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the
Service Provider for the PSP.
At
present, 89 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) with best-in-class amenities are
operating across the country as extended arms of the 38 Passport Offices, thus
providing extended reach to passport applicants. Several quantitative and
qualitative improvements in the delivery of passport services in the country
have been made during the last two and a half years.
Over
the years, there has been an expansion in the volume of passport related
services. Government of India rendered 1.15 crore passport and other related
services during the calendar year 2016.
The
Ministry of External Affairs has engaged closely with the Police Departments
across States/ Union Territories to reduce the time taken in completion of
Police Verification Report (PVR) for expeditious issuance of Passports. The
Department of Posts has been a valuable partner of the Ministry of External
Affairs in the PSP by ensuring timely despatch and delivery of the passports
from the Passport Offices to the registered address of the passport applicants.
In
order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport, the
Ministry of External Affairs has made several changes towards the end of last
year in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens
of India applying for a passport. It is expected that these changes in the
Passport Rules would further ease the process for passport applicants in
getting their passports.
The
objective of the Government has been to cater to the demand for passports and
to reach out to the people located far away from the Passport Offices. One
approach has been to open PSK at various locations and under this, the
Government has decided to inaugurate additional four PSK at Indore in Madhya
Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Siliguri in West Bengal and Sholapur in
Maharashtra in the coming months. A second approach has been to organize
Passport Seva Camps at various locations. During 2016, 80 such Camps have been
organized at various locations across the country in which 34,111 passport
applications were processed.
In
order to extend passport services to our citizens on a
larger scale and to ensure wider area coverage, the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) and the Department of Posts (DOP) have now agreed to utilize the
Head Post Offices (HPO) in the various States as Post Office Passport Seva
Kendra (POPSK) for delivering passport related services to the citizens of our
country. The pilot projects for this joint venture between MEA and DOP would be
inaugurated on 25 January, 2017 at the HPO at Mysuru in Karnataka and at Dahod
in Gujarat. Appointments for passport applicants have been released for these
two places beginning 25 January, 2017. Applicants, who apply for their
passports online through the passport portal, can now schedule an appointment and
then visit the designated POPSK to complete the formalities akin to those at
the PSK necessary prior to the issue of the passport.
Delivery
of passport related services through the POPSK would be yet another
citizen-centric measure of the Government in taking IT- driven public services
closer to the people of the country. This partnership would be an important
step forward enabling the Government to continue to deliver passport related
services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, and
reliable manner through streamlined processes and a committed, trained and
motivated workforce.
Once
the pilot projects are operationalized successfully, the Government intends to
scale up this programme by opening POPSK in all the HPO in a phased manner.
Monday, January 23, 2017
GDS COMMITTEE REPORT - CHAPTERWISE AND ANNEXURE WISE DOWNLOAD LINK
Shri
Kamalesh Chandra Committee submitted report on GDS system to the Department
& Government on 24th November 2016.
The
copy of the Report published in DoP website on 18-01-2017.
It
contains 434 pages with 20 Chapters and 39 Annexures with some other
pages.
Downing
loading of the Report Copy once at a time is more time taking and felt
difficulty.
CHAPTER
- 2 : NET WORK OF GDS POST OFFICES (12 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 3 : CATEGORIES OF GDS(10 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 4 : VIABILITY OF GDS POST OFFICES (21 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 5 : WORK LOAD ASSESSMENT (8 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 8 : LEGAL STATUS OF GDS ( 7 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 11: ALLOWANCES (15 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 13: EX GRATIA BONUS (5 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 14:METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT (11 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 15:CAREER PROGRESSION ( 6 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 17:DISCIPLINARY RULES (7 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 18:SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES (14 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 19:WELFARE SCHEMES (10 PAGES)
CHAPTER
- 20:FINANCIAL IMPLICATION ( 4 PAGES)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (3
PAGES)
The
following Annexures contains Statistical tables, data collection and etc.,
ANNEXURE
: 01 - 10 (37 PAGES)
ANNEXURES
: 11 - 15 (41 PAGES)
ANNEXURES
: 16 - 25 (31 PAGES)
ANNEXURES
: 26 -30 (25 PAGES)
ANNEXURES
: 31 - 39 ( 30 PAGES)
After
going through the GDS Committee Report, the Committee observations and comments
on GDS system and on GDS beside on the part of Department and Govt are so
impressive and courageous.
In brief, the comments
are extracted here :
1.
The
GDSs working in the net work of GDS Post Offices are Ambassadors of
Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications in the rural and remote areas
of India……
2.
The Govt
of India still holds the same position and has so far held that the Gramin
Dak Sevaks are not departmental employees. They are outside the Civil Services
of the Union and shall not claim to be at par with the Central Government
Employees……
3.
Currently,
a large number of well educated, talented and capable youths are joining
GDS posts and strengthening the GDS system and this trend is likely to
propel growth of the Department in the coming days……
4.
The
Committee observed that in last several decades, the Department has not
invested enough to strengthen the network of GDS Post Offices until
recently……
5.
The quality
of life of GDSs and their family’s needs to be improved by
harmonizing their wages and other emoluments in tune with present day’s needs
and aspirations of young GDSs joining the workforce….
6.
The
Committee also noted that a large number of them are totally dependent
upon the emoluments received from the Department and has no other means of
livelihood to supplement their income…….
7.
The
Committee views that the demand of regularization of their services is due
to better emoluments, reliability and security of regular government
service. The Committee noted that GDSs are exploited at the hands of their
local supervisors because of existing wage structure and their legal
status. The administrative powers such as “put off duty” are exercised on frivolous
charges and frequently used for exploitation rather than as remedial measures.
8.
The
Department recognizes the engagement of GDSs as contractual, but the present
method of engagement and disciplinary proceedings, job contents, risks and
responsibilities are getting closer to the regular employees of the
department….
9.
that
there is tendency to withhold the legitimate demands of GDSs which are due to
them, based on the apprehension that they will get closer to regular employees
and their claim for regularization will be strengthened in
the Court of Law, if such demands are allowed. The Committee finds this
as unreasonable and counter productive for the Department. It also
deprives them of living a happy life in the changed situation where financial
dependence on GDS position is increasing day by day because of shrinking
alternate means of livelihood…….
10. The
Department has lost its tag of having the largest network for
providing financial services to the customers by decelerating expansion of
network based on the assumption that GDS post offices are loss
making and adding to the overall deficit of the Department….
11. The
Committee observed that the ‘Rationalization of Postal Network Scheme’ has
also not worked on the expected line….. the Committee supports the demand for
presence of postal facility in the headquarters of each of 2.50 lakhs Gram
Panchayats and revamping of PSSK and FO Schemes my making it more remunerative
as opening of regular or GDS Post Office in each of such location may not be
feasible….
12. The
GDS Post Offices, is around 45% of the total deficit (Net Expenditure –
Revenue) of Rs.6258.60 crores and around 15% of the total expenditure of
Rs.17894.58 crores in the Financial year 2014-15………..the Committee found that
total expenditure on GDS system is far less than deficit of the Department.
13. Future
survival of the Department will largely depend on the successful management of
GDS Post Offices, which effectively for its “soul”.. It would be difficult for
the Department to survive without the soul…..
14. Tust
of GDS network which enables the Department to deliver trustworthy services in
each and every village of the country that can not be quantified in terms of
revenue…
15. The
Committee observed that the Sub Post Masters of single handed Sub Post Offices
do not encourage Branch Post Masters to increase their workload as it results
into increase in the workload of Sub Post Offices which they are unable to
handle properly due to lack of manpower……
16. Sub
Post Office by utilizing the services of capable and willing GDSs in the
single handed sub post offices…..
17. the
India Post Payment Bank which is going to be rolled out shortly will use the
strengths of the GDS net work and experiences of more than 2.60 lakhs
trustworthy Gramin Dak Sevaks serving in the Department of Posts….
18. the
GDS network can potentially wipe out the deficit (gap between the expenditure
and revenue) of the Department and emerge as rural digital hubs for delivery of
DBT and other postal, financial, remittance, third party and several e-services
to the rural population and forming an integral part of fulfilling SABKA
SAATH SABKA VIKAS agenda of the Central Government.
Source:
GDS Committee Report (Executive Summary)
Central Budget 2017 to be presented on February 1, says Supreme Court
The
government has received a go-ahead from the Supreme Court to present the Union
Budget on February 1. On Monday, the SC which was slated to hear a plea to push
the Budget presentation date to after the Assembly Elections in the five
states, dismissed the plea and said that the financial statement should be
presented on February 1.
This
year, the government decided to advance the Union Budget presentation to
February 1, doing away with a decades-old practice of presenting it on the last
working day of February. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that this would
allow for the Finance Bill to be passed early and make funds available on time.
The
Opposition parties had sought postponement of the Budget on the grounds that
the ruling government could announce sops for the states in line for elections
and sway the votes.
While
dismissing the petition, filed by Manohar Lal Sharma, the Supreme Court said,
"There is no illustration to support that the presentation of the Union
Budget would influence voters' mind in state elections."
7th Pay Commission: Central govt employees expect Committee on Allowances report in February
New
Delhi: After repeated rumours and statements on when and what the Committee of
Allowances under Finance Secretary will roll out for central government
employees, there is more news to fire the expectations of government employees.
The
Convener of National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), in a circular to its
members wrote on Thursday about his recent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary
said,” The Cabinet Secretary informed us that, pension issues have already been
referred to the Cabinet, and the report of the Committee on Allowances is
likely to be submitted in the next month”.
The
Cabinet Secretary is also reported to have assured NJAC that the issue of
Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula is also being vigorously pursued by the
government.
Cabinet
Secretary is reported to have told Mishra that the inordinate delay in
allowances was because of the various problems, but the intention of the
government is very clear that, they want to resolve the problems of the Central
Government Employees and advised the employees to have patience for some time
and given us an assurance that he would try to get resolved pending issues of
the Central Government Employees as early as possible.
Source
: http://zeenews.india.com
Govt analyses cash deposits in last 10 days of demonetisation
NEW
DELHI: Expanding scrutiny of suspicious transactions post demonetisation,
the government has begun analysing deposits in new accounts and loan repayments
as well as transfers to e-wallets and
advance remittance for imports during the last 10 days of deadline to turn in
junked notes.
After analysing cash deposits made in bank and post office accounts during the 50-day window provided to get rid of the junked 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, authorities are now examining term deposit and loan accounts that were opened after November 8 demonetisation decision.
"Income Tax Department is already taking actions in cases where cash deposits above Rs 50,000 have been made without quoting of PAN.
"The Income Tax Department is using tools and its sources to identify each of these persons and is confident that there would be a big expansion in the tax base and a quantum jump in direct tax collection," a senior government official said.
A close watch has been kept on the persons making cash deposits in the last 10 days of the demonetisation scheme, e-wallets, advance remittance for imports etc, and continues to work on collecting and analysing more data regarding cash deposits, he said.
The focus is also on non-cash deposits in various bank accounts by way of RTGS and other means, and would continue to share its findings with the concerned law enforcement agencies.
"Analysis
of the deposits made, by way of cash and non-cash, in various kinds of new
accounts including term deposit accounts and loan accounts that have been
opened during the period of demonetisation is being done," he said.
"Income tax department and other agencies like ED are taking action based
on the analysis."
Besides, regular reporting by the banks through Suspicious Transaction Reports has seen more than four-fold increase in this period and the same are being analysed for dissemination.
On analysis, details of more than 60 lakh accounts which have cash deposits of Rs 2 lakh and above have been disseminated and the total amount deposited in these accounts is more than Rs 7.34 lakh crore.
Also, details of cash deposits totalling more than Rs 10,700 crore in different accounts in the North-Eastern states have also been disseminated.
The official said Income-Tax Department and ED have been provided with the details of cash deposits of more than Rs 16,000 crore in different accounts of various kinds of cooperative banks as well as more than Rs 13,000 crore deposits made in Regional Rural Banks.
"The Income Tax Department has undertaken numerous actions, both intrusive and non-intrusive, based on the intelligence and in turn referred a number of cases for parallel investigation by ED and CBI. The actions have unearthed non-filers, huge amounts of unaccounted income and shell companies," he said.
The Income Tax Department is also undertaking data analysis and comprehensive matching of the huge intelligence inputs with government databases to have a more effective and focused non-intrusive action against tax evaders in the coming days.
Source
: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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