The Indian Post office has announced that they will soon have their own ATMs across the country. This has given their customers a hope that they no longer have to stand in serpentine queues to take out their cash deposited in the Post Office. The Indian Post office will be deploying ATMs across the country in the coming days, which will be beneficial to the savings bank account holders of the Post office. CMS have signed a deal with the Department of Post to personalize over 15 million debit cards for the India Post savings account holders. The deal is valued at Rs 30 crores and is estimated to be completed in the next three years.

Mokam Singh Matta, Head of Card Business of CMS Info Systems said, "Our latest deal with DoP will power issuance of personalized cards to complement their ATM deployment plans over a three-year period. We expect this to benefit people using teller facilities at the DoP branches, as they can now begin to use these cards for more convenient cash withdrawals. As the leading player in Card Personalization, CMS is proud to be associated with initiatives that help make financial services more accessible across India. In addition to financial cards, CMS also personalizes Smart Cards which are being increasingly used in large scale government projects, including National ID, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Employee's State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Some of these forms a critical backbone for financial inclusion projects in the country."

The personalized debit cards made for DoP will be issued on the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) platform and these can be  used initially only on ATMs installed at DoP branches, as a closed loop environment. These cards will initially make available as the magstripe variant, having an option of EMV made available to the account holders after a set period of time.

Having huge reach out to the interiors of the country and covering almost all the villages in the country, Indian Post Offices can play a vital role in the development of the country. The postmen and women are the lot, who is having a direct connection with the people in any village of the country. This connectivity can be used to educate the people regarding the initiatives of the government.

By Premji