The India Post Payments Bank, one of the largest banks that is been in talks for more than a year, is getting launched on Saturday. Around 40,000 postmen will provide doorstep banking through mini handheld devices and all the customers will have Aadhar enrolment facilities through them, the government said on Wednesday.

Transfer of money will be done through biometric and QR code-based card, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters here adding that by December this year, 1.55 lakh access points will be opened (number of postal branches), out of which 1.30 lakh will be in rural areas. So far, around 49,000 bank branches are functional in rural areas, he said.

“With the upcoming nationwide launch of IPPB, the trusted postman will now become a banker to millions of unbanked and underbanked Indians who have so far had no access to financial services. This launch will more than double the number of bank branches in the country – from the present 1.40 lakh to more than 2.90 lakh,” he said.

The Minister said that similarly, the number of rural branches in the country will increase from the current 49,000 to more than 1.75 lakh. IPPB will have 11,000 micro ATMs in the first year and so far, it has opened four lakh accounts. Also, the government is floating tenders for smart phones for postal payment bank.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Wednesday also approved an additional sum of Rs. 635 crore in the revised cost estimates on account of Rs 400 crore for technology costs and Rs 235 crore for human resource costs. With this revision, the project outlay for the setting up of IPPB has gone up from Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1,435 crore.

The postal bank will be launched across India by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday from Talkatora Stadium.

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