India Post, which has received in-principle approval to set up a payments bank and is in the process of completing the preliminary formalities, is proposing to have a separate unit for the purpose. This, the department feels will help it to have interoperability of its ATMs with those of public sector banks. A finance ministry official said the department has taken this initiative so that it can secure RBI approval for interoperability of its ATMs. The unit will be headquartered in Bengaluru. The interoperability will allow individuals to transfer money from their Post Office account to their accounts in any bank. Besides, India Post ATMs can be used for withdrawal of money from the bank accounts. The official said the unit will be created to operationalize the Post Bank license and ultimately it would get merged suitably with the Post Bank. The department is setting up some 10,000 ATMs and 20,000 micro ATMs by the end of this year.
