All you need to know regarding India Post Payments Bank savings account
Mumbai: India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) an arm of India Post offers banking services, savings accounts and investment plans. India Post which is overseen by Ministry of Communications, Department of Posts, has over 1.5 lakh post offices covering the length and breadth of India.
Payment Banks cannot accept deposits of more than Rs 1 lakh from one account holder and are not allowed to lend money, as per the guidelines. Payment Banks could provide other services such as bill payments, ATM card, net banking, fund transfers, recharges among others to the customers.
India Post launched internet banking facility for its account holders in December 2018, to give boost to the government’s digital India push.
Besides, it is working on mobile banking app, which is at the testing stage and will be soon released for the general public. Though it may be late entry in digital banking, but having a large reach of post offices, the launch would have an impact in lives of vast number of customers.
Savings bank account:
With an amount as small as Rs 20 clients can open a savings account in their nearby Post Offices. Achieving financial inclusion, which is the key goal of the government, got a boost from India Post Payments Bank. People, in particular the residents of rural India have shown a lot of interest in India Post savings account. “At least one transaction of deposit or withdrawal in three financial years is necessary to keep the account active,” as per India Post website.
MAB and interest rate:
At Rs 50, the minimum average balance (MAB) needed to be kept in an India Post savings account is very small as compared to commercial banks. Rs 500 is MAB required if you want a cheque book account. India Post savings bank account offers 4 per cent interest rate, in comparison with India’s largest lender State Bank of India which offers 3.5 per cent. SBI requires account holders to maintain Rs 1,000 MAB in non-urban branches and Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 in semi-urban and metro city branches respectively.
India Post savings accounts returns depend on returns on small savings schemes operated by the government, so with India Post savings account, you could get benefits offered by central savings schemes. Interest earned is tax free up to Rs 10,000.
ATM cum debit card charges:
A debit cum ATM card can be availed by savings bank account holders. Rs 25,000 per day is the withdrawal limit for India Post ATM cum debit card. For one transaction, the ceiling is of Rs 10,000. In one day five financial transactions are allowed for free using the ATM card. Apart from this, three transactions in other bank’s ATMs are allowed in metro cities and five transactions in other bank’s ATMs are allowed in non-metro cities in one month. After exceeding the transaction limit a fee of Rs 20 and GST as applicable is charged.
