Dear Comrades,
Your ATM (automated teller machine) and debit cards will no longer be
linked to just banks. From March, you might be able to swipe these in
the head post offices of all Haryana districts as well.
Under a union government project, the facility, along with the ATM counters, is coming to post-office customers in three months, sources in the India Post’s state headquarters in Ambala have said. Rural people still find it convenient to maintain accounts in post offices.
“After the ATM counters are installed, thousands of customers in the
state will get easy access to accounts,” said an official. The plan
includes Internet banking from post offices in the later phases.
The core banking facility will allow people to do transactions from
any networked post office in the state. The debit-card facility would be
optional for the account holders, said superintendent of posts (Karnal
circle) JK Gulati. “Account holders who want to withdraw money now have
to visit post office in business hours, and have no facility of
electronic transfer of money to a third party,” he added.
“Unlike the banking sector, the post offices are not profit driven,
and our account holders can use the debit-card facility for a nominal
annual fee,” said Gulati, adding: “Most of our account holders are
senior citizens and monthly-income-scheme subscribers, who carry out
frequent transactions and will benefit from the ATM facility.” After the
head post offices, the other post offices will also be brought on the
network.
http://www.hindustantimes.com
