Features of India Post Payments Bank

Features of India Post Payments Bank

Features of India Post Payments Bank

1. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is setup under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India.

2. Since IPPB is a Payments Bank, it cannot lend but can only accept deposits.

3. IPPB can have third party tie-up to offer loans, insurance and mutual funds etc.

4. IPPB offers savings accounts and current accounts only at present.

5. For opening of IPPB account, no physical copies of KYC document or photo is necessary. Account can be opened using the details fetched from Aadhar which is to be authenticated by the Biometric of customer (Finger print or Iris) and OTP received on registered mobile number.

6. Regular savings account is opened for customers with Zero minimum balance. Since it is a Payments Bank, as per RBI direction, maximum balance one can keep in this account is restricted to 1 lakh at EOD. But to overcome this limitation, there is an option provided to link POSB with IPPB. If POSB is linked with IPPB, amount exceeding 1 lakh will automatically be swept into POSB account at EOD. Please note if no POSB is linked with IPPB account, one cannot perform a transaction above 1 lakh at any given point of time. In case the account breaches the 1 lakh limit by way of interest addition, amount exceeding 1 lakh will be moved to a sundry account and cheque will be issued for that amount. No such restriction is applicable to POSB linked accounts.

7. In case POSB linked accounts, Sweep IN and Sweep Out facility provided in IPPB enables customers to transfer fund from POSB to IPPB and vice versa. Sweep IN function works from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on working days only. A settlement account is maintained by DOP to enable this Sweep IN service which is daily replenished by DOP. Once POSB account is linked with IPPB, it takes three working days, excluding the date of linkage, to get the Sweep IN function activated. IPPB savings account carries an interest of 4% per annum. Interest is calculated on a daily product basis and paid on a quarterly basis.

8. IPPB at present offers individual current accounts only which means current account in the name of firms cannot be opened. Current account requires a minimum monthly average balance of Rs.1000/-. Charges for non-maintenance of MAB is Rs.100/- per month and deducted quarterly. Current account holders will be provided with Cheque book provided specimen signature is updated in CBS. Getting the specimen signature in signature card is mandatory for opening IPPB account.

9. IPPB offers salary account scheme option SBDOP for all regular staff of Department of Posts. For SBDOP account holders all fund transfers performed through IMPS, NEFT and RTGS via Mobile APP are absolutely free. If you are a DOP regular staff and your account scheme is not changed to SBDOP, please contact your divisional office or IPPB branch for the conversion of the scheme to SBDOP.

10. IPPB transactions can be performed through 3 channels viz Finacle at Sub offices/Head office, Micro ATM (Mobile device and Biometric device) of Postmen/ GDS working at HO/SO/BO and Mobile APP of customers. Customers can deposit any amount at HO/SO through Finacle without incurring any charge. But withdrawal per customer per day is limited to Rs.20000/-. Through Postmen M-ATM and at BOs, a customer can deposit and withdraw only Rs.5000/- per day. A customer can transact through his Mobile APP also.

11. A customer having IPPB account can transfer funds to other banks, perform Sweep IN/ Sweep Out from and to POSB, perform bill payments (Electricity bill, Mob recharge, DTH recharge etc) and pay DOP products online (RD, SSA, PPF and Loan against RD).

12. A customer can deposit/withdraw funds to and from IPPB account by visiting any access point (HO/SO/BO) or Postman.

13. If a customer performs any transaction from M-ATM of end users (BPM/ABPM/DAK SEVAK/POSTMEN) outside a radius 300 mtr from the access point (HO/SO/BO) to which they are tagged, door step charges will be levied from the customer. If the transaction involved is cash (deposit/withdrawal) Rs.25 + GST will be deducted from the account. If the transaction does not involve any physical cash (Fund transfer/Bill payment etc) Rs.15
+ GST will be deducted from the account in addition to the charges for fund transfer charges.

14. Customer can transfer funds to IPPB accounts from other banks using the IPPB Account number and IFSC code IPOS0000001. IPPB has a single IFSC code all over India. Customer can also send funds to IPPB using MMID and Mob number or using VPA ID of IPPB account number.

15. For transfer of fund from IPPB to other banks using IMPS, NEFT or RTGS charges are applicable. Schedule of charges are attached in a separate sheet. Fund transfer from IPPB to IPPB and IPPB to POSB attract no charges.

16. While UPI is not available in mob APP at present, IPPB offers the same through assisted mode. ie through Post office counter and delivery staff. You transfer and receive funds using the VPA I'd of your bank account through these assisted modes without incurring any charges. However, it is expected to roll out UPI in Mobile banking in near future. At present the account cannot be added to UPI based apps like Gpay, Phone pay, Paytm etc.

17. Four DBT Mandate options are available while opening IPPB accounts. Please be very clear with these options as incorrect selection can even lead to DBT not being received in any bank accounts. Option is also available to change the DBT mapping from other banks to IPPB.

18. A current account holder can download two Mob APPs. One the normal IPPB Mob App for his personal use and the other is the merchant App for his business purposes. Merchant App can be activated using the registered mobile number only after receiving a confirmation message within 48 hours of opening of account. Merchant APP is very helpful for merchants to receive the payment digitally. Scanning the QR code or using the VPA ID of merchant, customers can easily transfer funds to his account.

19. An end user who opens a funded (Rs.100/-) IPPB savings account will get an incentive of Rs.7/- for each account provided the account is linked with POSB within 30 days or a cumulative revenue generation of Rs.30/- happened in that within 90 days of opening.

20. An end user who opens a current account will get an incentive of Rs.45/ - for each account provided average monthly balance of Rs.1000/ - is maintained in that account for a period of 3 successive months beginning with the month subsequent to the month in which account opened & cumulative revenue generation of Rs.50/- from transactions within 90 days of account opening.

21. In addition to the above incentive end user will continue to earn 5% of the revenue generated in the whichever account opened by him.

22. At HO/SO level counter rush can be largely reduced due to DOP products'(SSA, PPF, RD) payment being routed through IPPB. If the customer performs fund transfer and bill payments through Mob APP, end user who opened the account will continue to receive 5% of revenue earned by IPPB as incentive. The story of shri. Senthil Kumar, PA, Coimbatore is an example for this. He received Rs.4500/- as incentive, the highest among all finacle end users pan India when incentive was first released by IPPB.

23. We have seen that customers lining up at large numbers at BOs just for the payment of electricity Bill's. Though many of them are uneducated also, they can still operate smart phones. If we guide them to properly use the Mob APP, instead of visiting BO counter they can make the bill payment on self-mode (Using Mobile APP) and we can earn still earn revenue and incentive on that.

24. Payment of mail products (Registered/Speed/Money order etc) can be done using IPPB accounts at HO/SO. Dispute regarding tendering exact changes at counter can be largely avoided due to this facility. Customer need not bring any change and still perform hassle free transactions at HO/SO counters.

25. AEPS (Aadhar Enabled Payment System) has been launched by IPPB on 01.09.19. Now from any Post office (HO/SO/BO) customers can withdraw amount from their Aadhar linked bank account. They can also check their bank account balance/ generate account statement etc. from Post office counter or end users. This is possible through Micro ATM also. For completing this transaction biometric authentication of customer is mandatory and bank account shall be linked with Aadhar. AEPS works under the aegis of NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). Withdrawal limit of AEPS is capped at Rs.10000/- in IPPB. But each member bank can set their own withdrawal limit and transaction limit. We can target migrant labourers and areas where ATM penetration is low for AEPS transactions. AEPS works like a Mobile ATM.

26. No charges for AEPS will be levied from customer. Charges will be bank to bank only. The issuer bank pays interchange fee @ 0.50% of the transaction value subject to a maximum of Rs.15/- per transaction. No commission is paid for Txn value less than or up to Rs.100/-. The issue bank pays flat Rs.3/- per transactions for mini statement services. No commission is paid for balance enquiry transactions. DOP will be eligible for 30% pay outs of the net interchange income earned by bank. The distribution split will be 25% of the net interchange income to end user; 4.5% of income to supervisor of end user & 0.5% to L2 super user. (This will be for cash withdrawal transactions).

27. IPPB is planning to roll out virtual debit card (Not physical debit card) to its customers. Once the same is launched, customers can perform online shopping using this account. Virtual debit card will be made available in the Mobile APP itself. Currently the same is under testing period.
28. Last but not the least IPPB focuses on transactions while DOP focuses on number of accounts. Each transaction is important to IPPB however small it may seem as each transaction is a potential revenue generating transaction. Hence it is important to make the customer download the Mobile App and explain the features and make him perform the transactions while opening accounts for them.