Union Finance Minister
P. Chidambaram on Thursday inaugurated the country’s first post office savings
bank ATM at the Head Post Office in Thyagaraya Nagar here. The ATM was part of
an Information Technology (IT) modernisation project of the Department of
Posts.
Mr. Chidambaram said a
total of Rs. 4909 crore had been allotted for the modernisation in the interim
budget. “The launching of the ATM was a step towards making the department a
completely technology oriented one,” he said adding that the Core Banking
Solutions (CBS) scheme would benefit as much as 1,55,000 post offices.
Mr. Chidambaram said
the ATM would run on a trial basis for six months. Afterwards, it would become
an interoperable where cards of other banks could be used.
Commenting on the
future of post offices in the IT era where sending letters and post cards had
become a rarity, Mr. Chidambaram said the department was inventing new strategies to keep itself on the
growth trajectory. For parcel services, people still preferred the post office,
he observed.
Secretary of
Department of Posts Padmini Gopinath said about 2800 such ATMs would be
installed by end of 2015. Sixty-two post offices covering 64 lakh accounts had
already migrated to CBS. “Over 26,840 post offices will adopt CBS by 2016. All
account holders will be provided with an ATM card,” Ms. Padimini said. She said
the department was also toying with the idea of starting e-commerce services in
rural areas to improve its earnings.
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