Indian Post Payment Bank (IPPB) was instigated last year in September 2018 by GOI for rendering timely and approachable banking services at the doorway of their customers or account holders.
With the wave of digitization hitting postal services, IPPB has launched an Application for lending a hand to their customers/account holders for efficiently opening up the saving accounts without even walking up to the bank. However, the enactment of Biometrics for secured banking & financial services under the IPPB has scored the brownie points.
IPPB — In a nutshell
IPPB is a public sector company whose operation is carried out by the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications, GOI in the supervision of RBI. The central Government owns 100 percent in IPPB.
The Government rolled out a pilot project in Ranchi and Raipur on 30th January 2017. Up till now, IPPB has linked 1.36 post offices and has engaged as good as 3 lakh postal workers for contributing a door-to-door banking service.
The bank is aiming to open around 1.55 lakh branches across the nation to lay out the benefits to the ones who are not having sufficient access to the services of a bank or the mainstream financial organization.
GOI has floated IPPB with an intent to furnish the house to house banking services, and that is why the slogan ‘Apka Bank Apke Dwar.’ Moving further, the Government of India, under the ‘Grameen Dak Sewaks’ scores of postmen have been put on the payroll to entrust digital aid to the customers.
As per the statics of December 2018, approximately 19 lakh accounts have been opened under IPPB that too within three months of ushering it in all the states. The initiative adopts a two-way linkage for accurately identifying the customers to offer trusted, approachable, and affordable.
IPPB and biometrics — bolstering the growth of Indian fintech ecosystem
As specified by the 2018 survey report of the World Bank, India is deemed to be the second-largest country incorporating a significant amount of unbanked populace. More or less 19 crores unbanked populace of the nation comprises of grown-ups that forms nearly 11 percent of the world’s population not holding any bank account. A variety of government policies to strengthen the banking and financial market through biometric identification has plunged the rate of adults holding bank accounts.
“Having access to financial services is a critical step towards reducing both poverty and inequality, and new data on mobile phone ownership and internet access show unprecedented opportunities to use technology to achieve universal financial inclusion,” said the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
IPPB came up intending to underline its adherence of dispensing the banking services to the unbanked class residing in the remote cities or tier-3 regions of the country. Thus the biometrics technology comes into play, as the Government has pronounced to secure conveying financial services to the citizens by introducing a two-way verification process through QR codes and biometric identification.
How biometrics is marking its mark in the Indian payment system
IPPB bestows the customers with three sorts of accounts — a savings account (which enabled a customer to withdraw money, deposit cash and trouble-free remittances), a primary savings account (that permits only four cash withdrawals a month) and a digital savings account (that enables a customer to open up account via IPPB mobile App sitting anywhere in the world).
When technological advancement is booming financial inclusion, it is necessary for the banking industry to focus on adopting secure biometric products/solutions. Overall, the fintech platform needs to be a strong one with a focus on driving a smooth, trusted, and secure banking and financial services — for the citizens, the country, and its economy.
IPPB primarily focuses on furnishing door-to-door banking services to the consumers at nominal charges through its efficient channel, a massive chain and trained postman who utilize biometric devices and smartphones.
Biometrics is reshaping the future of banks
The central Government has regulated the QR code-based biometric card instead of utilizing the traditional ATM debit cards to offer a comprehensive banking solution for secure financial adaptability.
“It (QR Card) provides a unique, secure, and convenient way to access your account without the hassle of remembering your account number. You do not need to remember your PIN/Password, as transactions can be initiated by using biometric authentication. You can do cash transactions, money transfer, bill payments, or cashless shopping using this card,” says the official IPPB website.
The “Grameen Dak Sewaks” are offered the smartphones and biometric devices for extending reliable, accessible, and procurable banking services at the customer’s gateway. For opening up the accounts of customers, their Aadhaar card has been linked, which will further assist IPPB to maneuver QR code and biometric authentication process for faster and safer transactions & payments.
Further, IPPB contributes its customers/account holders with digital banking utilities like mobile banking, SMS service, and ATMs. The two-way linkage can be executed without a hitch in just three straightforward steps:
- Identify the customer by scanning the QR code
- Validate the customer through biometric identification
- Transaction is completed
IPPB carries out two-step verification with QR code and biometric data of an individual for authentication. The Ahmedabad-based leading biometric company, Mantra Softech (India) Pvt. Ltd. IPPB utilizes Biometric Fingerprint Device MFS100 in driving the process of authentication. The Biometric devices manufactured by Mantra are employed extensively for KYC verification by Nationalized Banks, Telecom companies, and government welfare schemes.
IPPB — Standing at the brink of transformation
The biometric identification and QR code can be resorted to transfer money, withdraw cash, payments of the bill, and cash-free shopping. The two-stage authentication is carried out by the postmen to render home to home banking facilities to the customers/account holders at the rate of Rs 25 each transaction. As per the statistics, in August 2018, IPPB has attained 1.6 lakh smartphones and 2.7 lakh biometric devices to offer steadfast banking and financial facilities at the doorstep.
A customer is first identified through the QR code, then the customer’s biometric data will be collected to authenticate him/her again and eventually upon successful completion of the two-step verification the postmen will pass on cash to the customer.
Customers can take advantage of QR code-based transactions by way of Dak Sewaks, post offices, or postmen. Soon IPPB is planning to benefit its customers through QR code, and biometric-based identification at the small grocery shops or general stores as the initiative inclines to bring an unstructured retail platform on board.
The delivery of financial services via the IPPB platform to the ultimate customers ensures paramount financial inclusion as the utmost Indian masses will acquire bank accounts, and the ratio of unbanked Indian populace will dwindle sharply. The adoption of transpiring technologies by the BFSI organizations has extensively been noticed in the year 2018.
