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| Finance Minister P Chidambaram |
“The IT modernisation project of the Department of Posts with outlay of Rs. 4,909 crore will be operational by 2015 in all 1.55 lakh locations,” the finance minister said.
The IT modernisation project with this outlay was approved by Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) in November 2012. It has to be implemented through eight projects which include core banking system technology, IT-based management at post offices, business intelligence system to analyse and project new business opportunity.
The project aims at increasing efficiency, quickening transactions and enhancing transparency at all 1.55 lakh post offices in the country.
Under the project all rural post offices are to be provided with 1,30,000 handheld devices which will come with smart card readers for financial transactions, solar panels for charging them, biometric readers for immediate identification and thermal printers for immediate printing of receipt.
The devices will enable post offices to deliver services at the door step of the customer.
The postal department has computerised about 25,000 departmental post offices but rural post offices will be provided handheld devices for digitising records.
(This article was published on February 17, 2014)
