Bank restrictions prove a boon to Postal dept

Tirupati: The restrictions in bank transactions post demonetisation have proved to be a boon to the Postal department with the number of accounts and revenue increasing at a faster rate now. Tirupati postal division has accrued revenue of Rs.33.57 crore during the last fiscal from savings and related accounts only. About 21406 new savings accounts were opened during the last financial year. Significantly, out of that more than 50 per cent accounts were opened during the last quarter.

Highlights:

• Postal customers will have the facility of withdrawing the money by a phone call and the amount will be handed over to them at their door step by the postman, says G Sreenivasa Murthy, Superintendent of Tirupati Division.
• All post offices will be linked to Rural Integrated Communication Technology (RICT) soon

This is a clear indication of people’s apprehensions on banks and the restrictions they have imposed after demonetisation. The rural people were relatively tilting more towards postal savings accounts when compared to urban areas given the fact that out of the 12509 accounts opened during January-March 2017 in the division, 5832 accounts opened in Chandragiri Head Office limits only. The other two head offices are Tirupati and Sri Kalahasti.

The Revenue on SB accounts alone was to the tune of Rs.28.53 crore. The government’s decision to link the NREGS accounts to the post offices also helped the department, through which the division has accrued considerable revenue of Rs.3.01 crore from and another Rs.1.79 crore from social security pensions giving ample evidence that the post office accounts were well within the reach and receiving the faith of the common people.

Not only SB accounts but significant increase was recorded in other deposit accounts also. About 1.11 lakh recurring deposit accounts were added during 2016-17 taking the total tally to 8.02 lakh accounts. The experiences at banks immediately after demonetisation and the announcements by the RBI during that period created lot of confusion among the customers of various banks. The restrictions banks have implemented for depositing and withdrawing the currency raised the ire of the customers.

Alternatively, customers started looking at Post offices to deposit their money by opening new accounts especially from January to March. On their part, Postal officials also conducted special campaign to woo depositors. Compared to the banks, post offices are well within the reach of people particularly at village level and the procedure to deposit and withdraw the money is also relatively hassle-free in post offices. This makes even normal people to go to post offices for their deposit needs.

The post offices too are trying to attract the customers. They are now giving the debit card and cheque book for every SB account with no restrictions on the number of transactions. The minimum balance will be only Rs.50. Even if the minimum balance is not maintained no penalty is imposed. With plans to establish Post Payment banks in the near future, the department is aiming at attracting more customers for whom they will extend the banking services at their door step with the help of their delivery staff.

Postal customers have the facility of withdrawing the money with a phone call and the amount will be handed over to them at their door step by the post man, said G Sreenivasa Murthy, Superintendent of Tirupati Division. Speaking to The Hans he said, all post offices will be linked to Rural Integrated Communication Technology (RICT) soon. Once this roll out is completed, every sub office can function independently. Devices will be supplied to them, which will work as mini ATMs. With the establishment of Post Payments Banks by September this year the services will be increased further, he averred.