India Post seldom figures in the list of those reportedly vying for a bank licence, but its credentials fit the bill almost to a T. Consider. A prime reason for issue of new bank licences is financial inclusion. By that criterion, India Post is an automatic choice.
With
close to 1,55,000 offices, a majority of them in rural and semi-urban
areas, and 30 crore deposit accounts, India Post can do what commercial banks have tried to over the years, but with limited success.
It
can bring vast unbanked sections of the population under the formal
banking network. It already does virtually everything a bank does,
except granting loans.
Most
post offices are already computerised and interest rates on small
savings have been partly deregulated, so there is no reason why it
cannot upgrade its operations and take up the full gamut of banking
operations.
There are enough examples all over the world, notably in Japan and Germany, of post offices successfully offering banking services. What about the strict norms laid down by the RBIfor grant of new bank licences? Will India Post be able to make the grade?
It
is advantageously placed on many counts: ability to meet the minimum
paid-up equity (Rs 500 crore), a satisfactory "past record of sound
credentials and integrity" with a successful track record of 10 years
and, most important of all, it will be able to meet the requirement of
having at least 25% of its branches in unbanked rural areas with a
population of less than 10,000.
There
is only one aspect where India Post might find compliance difficult:
the requirement that the bank should be set up through a wholly-owned
non-operative financial holding company.
But
this is a problem it shares with stateowned banks, which calls for a
common solution. It should certainly not be a stumbling block to
creating a new Post Bank of India.
Source : The Economic Times, 26 March, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment