Postmen, GDS to get complete makeover (IPPB)

The next time your neighbourhood postman comes to your house, don’t be surprised if he takes out his smartphone, activates the biometric device and carries out your request like making bill payments, handing over cash and accepting the deposits.

Yes, the Department of Posts (DoP) has drawn elaborate plan to use extensive services of postmen and other delivery staff in a big way for its India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).

Once the IPPB is rolled out in April across the country and also in Telangana, these postmen and delivery staff will provide banking services in the area that they are already covering as part of their delivery jurisdiction. Their most important task would be facilitating biometric cash deposit and withdrawal.

Post Master General, Hyderabad Headquarters Region, P.V.S. Reddy explained how the IPPB account holders would immensely benefit by opting for the biometric cash deposit and withdrawal facility. All a customer wanting to withdraw/deposit cash needs is to make a call to the IOPPB Call Centre. “The Call Centre staff will verify the details of the account holder and take his/her request. The request is then forwarded to the nearest branch office or sub-office. A suitable postman is then allocated to complete the task,” Dr. Reddy explained.

The postman on the visit to the account holders place will login in the IPPB app, verify the QR card and scan the same through card reader. Once that is done, then the account number appears on the screen where the account holder has to give his option for deposit or withdrawal. Once the biometric authentication is done, a One Time Password is sent to the registered mobile number, marking the completion of the transaction.

If the QR card is not available, account number can be directly fetched through biometric authentication.