The Reserve Bank of India has given the formal license to India Post to operate its payments bank. An official of the department of posts said it has received payments bank license and the service will be launched as per schedule. India Post Payments Bank is the third entity to receive payments bank permit after Bharti Airtel and Paytm. A.P. Singh, who was a joint secretary in the department of disinvestment has been appointed as interim MD and CEO of the India Post Payment Bank. In 2015, RBI had granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 11 entities, including department of posts, to set up payments banks and proposed to give such licenses ‘on tap’ basis in future. Of these, Tech Mahindra, a consortium backed by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries promoter Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co withdrew their applications. Of the 8 companies in fray, Airtel has launched its commercial operation across India with an investment of Rs 3000 crore offering interest rate of 7.25% on deposits, while Paytm plans to roll out payments bank within initial investment of about Rs 400 crore. The other entities in the field are Aditya Birla Nuvo, Fino PayTech, National Securities Depository, Reliance Industries and Vodafone m-pesa.
