Monday, March 25, 2013

डाक घर की लघु बचत योजनाओं पर ब्याज दर में कटौती

डाक घर की लघु बचत योजनाओं और पीपीएफ खातों में पैसा रखने वाले करोड़ों लोगों को पहली अप्रैल से अपनी जमा राशि पर कम दर पर ब्याज मिलेगा। सरकार ने इन पर ब्याज दर में 0.10 फीसदी की कटौती कर दी है।
 
वित्त मंत्रालय ने एक बयान में कहा कि लोक भविष्य निधि (पीपीएफ) की ब्याज दर 8.8 फीसदी से घटाकर 8.7 फीसदी कर दी गई है। नई दर एक अप्रैल, 2013 से प्रभावी होगी। हालांकि, डाक घरों द्वारा चलाई जाने वाली बचत जमा योजनाओं और एक साल तक की सावधि जमाओं पर ब्याज दरें क्रमश: 4 प्रतिशत और 8.2 प्रतिशत के मौजूदा स्तर पर अपरिवर्तित रखी गई हैं।

इसके अलावा, पांच साल की परिपक्वता अवधि की मासिक आमदनी योजनाओं पर 8.4 फीसदी ब्याज मिलेगा। वहीं, पांच साल और 10 साल की परिपक्वता अवधि वाली राष्ट्रीय बचत पत्रों पर क्रमश: 8.5 फीसदी और 8.8 फीसदी ब्याज मिलेगा जो पूर्व के ब्याज से 0.10-0.10 फीसदी कम है।

ये ब्याज दरें संपूर्ण वित्त वर्ष 2013-14 के लिए प्रभावी रहेंगी। वरिष्ठ नागरिकों की बचत योजनाओं के लिए ब्याज दर 9.3 फीसदी के बजाय 9.2 फीसदी रहेगी।

ब्याज दरों में यह बदलाव पिछले साल सरकार द्वारा किए गए निर्णय के तहत किया गया है जिसमें उसने लघु बचत योजनाओं की ब्याज दरों को बाजार की दर से जोडऩे का निर्णय किया था।

ये फैसले श्यामला गोपीनाथ समिति की सिफारिशों के मुताबिक हैं जिसमें समिति ने सुझाव दिया था कि रिटर्न को बाजार की दर से संबद्ध किया जाना चाहिए।

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

'गौरैया' वाले डाक टिकट

आज 'विश्व गौरैया दिवस' है। बचपन में जिस गौरैया की फुदक-फुदक के साथ हम बड़े हुए, वह कहीं खो गई है। गौरैया को बचाने के लिए भारत की 'नेचर्स फोरएवर सोसायटी ऑफ इंडिया' और 'इको सिस एक्शन फाउंडेशन फ्रांस' के साथ ही अन्य तमाम अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्थानों ने मिलकर 20 मार्च को 'विश्व गौरैया दिवस' मनाने की घोषणा की और वर्ष 2010 में पहली बार 'विश्व गौरैया दिवस' मनाया गया। इस दिन को गौरैया के अस्तित्व और उसके सम्मान में रेड लेटर डे (अति महत्वपूर्ण दिन) भी कहा गया। इसी क्रम में भारतीय डाक विभाग ने 9 जुलाई 2010 को गौरैया पर डाक टिकट भी जारी किए।

पाँच रूपये मूल्य वर्ग में जारी इस डाक टिकट में एक नर व मादा गौरैया को एक मिट्टी के घड़े पर बैठे हुए दर्शाया गया है, एक डाक टिकट की कीमत पाँच रुपये हैं। जो पूरे भारत में आप के पत्र को पहुंचाने में सक्षंम है। पक्षी प्रेमियों के लिए भी यह एक सुखद अनुभव होगा जब वह गौरैया डाक टिकट लगे पत्रों को प्राप्त करेंगे या किसी को भेजेंगे।
इसलिए इस बार जब आप किसी को पत्र लिखे तो गौरैया वाले डाक टिकट लगाना मत भूलिएगा, और यह भी जरूर लिखिएगा कि नन्ही गौरैया फिर से आपके घर लौटना चाहती है। बस जरुरत है उसके आपके घर के आंगन, एक अदद घोसले; कुछेक दानों, कीड़ों और आपके सहयोग व स्नेह की !!
 

Director of Accounts (Postal), Lucknow taken initiative for transformation into accrual accounting

(Address by Ms.Aprajita Atique, DAP, Lucknow)
To overhaul its account system, the government gearing to shift to a method where transaction will be recorded in the book of account even if cash changes hands later. Government has drawn roadmap for shifting to accrual accounting. To show its firmness on shifting over accrual accounting Ministry of Communication & IT, Department of Post, Committee of Public Finance and Institute  of Chartered Accountants of India have come together to train  officer and staff of Director of Accounts (Postal) .
 

In order to bring Accounting reforms in the Department of Post, a MOU was signed by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Department of Post, Ministry of Communication & IT in Jan 2013. Under the aegis of this MOU, a series of training programmes have been scheduled on Accrual Basis Accounting in the office of Postal Accounts.
 
 
There are a number of pre-requisites to be successful in implementation of accounting reforms in a government organization. Careful attention to these factors will help to ensure that any attempt to reform the accounting system meet with success. There exists a need for training of departmental managers to use an accrual accounting system and to achieve the benefits from its operation.
 

This training programme covers broad areas relating accrual based accounting. The topic which are being covered in this programme are of vital importance and cover major signification areas to explore complexities involved and get the benefit of switching over to accrual accounting from cash as a result of changing paradigm.
 

Eminent speakers having expertise in different fields deliberated and shared their wisdom on respective topics with the participants.
 

All batches has been presided by Ms Aprajita Atique, Director of Accounts (Postal), Lucknow, Mr. Shashank Mishra, Chairman Lucknow Branch of the Institute  of Charted Accountants of India delivered the theme address and Mr. CA  Sandeep Bhatnagar, Vice Chairman Lucknow Branch of the Institute  of Charted Accountants of India also addressed the participants of the Training Programme  on 19-03-2013.

 

Monday, March 18, 2013

India Post is planning to set up ATMs and issue Debit Cards

India post is planning to issue debit cards to their customers and install ATM Centre in the post office to come in the race of banking activities. Indian post is planning to set up at least 1000 ATM center initially for this purpose by set up a subsidiary PBI (Post bank of India). India post has the large network in India in rural as well as in urban areas which has around 1.5 lakhs centers. Giving the ATM facility will increase the transactions as well as increase the network of India post.
 
India post is also planning to introduce core banking solutions for its customers in which one can deposit or withdraw the money in any branch of post office. Generally we can see the long queue in the post office of the people who wants to deposit or withdraw the small amount. ATM will surely reduce the burden for these transactions.

 
According to IT professionals, setting the core banking solutions in 1000 branches will cost around 2000 crore for India post including software, postal services and banking services.
 
India post is currently giving some of the banking services like fixed deposit, recurring deposit, loans, pension payments and money transfer services. India post is also planning to tie up with the banks to use their ATMs free of charge to their customers.
 

India Post ready with Bank plan


The Reserve Bank of India having opened the window for new bank licences, the postal department is finalizing the blueprint to set up a bank of its own at your neighbourhood post office, a move that will challenge the dominance of large public sector lenders in smaller towns and rural India.
 
"This will hugely benefit rural areas enormously. There are nearly 1.55 lakh post offices and no capital cost of building is required. We are connecting post offices. As it is, we are offering savings bank in post offices and this is a natural progression. The matter is under discussion with the finance ministry and RBI," communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal told TOI.

The postal department has appointed Ernst & Young as consultant for the project and based on the detailed project report, it will approach the Union cabinet for a final go ahead.

While the department already has a balance sheet of Rs 6.18 lakh crore, which includes deposits of around 5.5 lakh crore, it is expected to set up a new entity that will function as the bank. Transferring the existing deposit base to the bank or converting the entity into a bank will entail an initial capital base of around Rs 55,000 crore to meet RBI's requirement, which the government will find difficult to provide. So, the proposed bank will start with the minimum capital requirement of Rs 500 crore, said a source familiar with the development.

A source said that the new entity will have its own board and guidelines that comply with RBI regulations. Although there are several examples of postal departments getting into banking — ranging from the German and Italian model, to those in South Africa and Japan — sources said the India model will be a lot different given the country's vast geographical spread and low level of banking penetration.

Among the various suitors, the postal department has one of the strongest cases to set up a bank given its massive reach across the country with 1.53 lakh post offices, almost all offering savings bank facilities. In all, there are 23.3 crore savings bank accounts with deposits adding up to Rs 3.8 lakh crore at the end of March 2012. "In a way it is already a savings bank. All that we want to do is make it a commercial bank," said a source.

The plan is to penetrate rural areas and smaller towns, which is also in line with the government's stated aim of offering banking facilities in the hinterland. Over a period of time, services such as investment banking will be added so that the bank becomes a full-fledged financial services entity.

The postal department has already initiated steps to connect post offices through an electronic network, which will be useful while setting up a bank. Connectivity ensures that customers can transact business through any branch in the country. It has also ordered the procurement of over 800 ATMs

But manpower issues are going to be a big challenge. "Getting direction is one thing, developing or procuring capability is another thing altogether. If the regulator is convinced, capability will follow," said Ashvin Parekh, partner and national leader for financial services at consulting firm E&Y. Parekh, however, refused to discuss the issue further as his firm is advising the postal department on its banking foray.

COURTESY: TIMES OF INDIA, 14th March 2013 

A case for converting India Post into a bank

Given its rural reach and track record in mobilising small savings and providing diversified financial services, India Post is better placed than commercial banks in helping the Government achieve its financial inclusion goal.
 
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India constituted a high-level committee on financial inclusion under the chairmanship of K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI.
The committee, with representatives from all stakeholders in the financial inclusion (FI) process, will monitor regularly the progress made by partnering banks and other agencies. This obviously indicates that everything is not hunky-dory with FI.
 
Although the RBI Annual Report 2011-12 (Table IV.6, pp.89) presents an encouraging picture of the progress of scheduled commercial banks in the FI plan (excluding RRBs), it is felt that the quantitative data hide more than they reveal; qualitative assessment speaks otherwise.
 
It is against this backdrop one thought whether there could be an “exclusive or near-exclusive bank” for FI in the country. The idea that sprang to mind was whether converting India Post into a bank could provide the answer. This has been long-discussed but not acted upon.
 
It is clear that India Post has an advantage over commercial banks as far as their coverage is concerned.
 
The postman is regarded as a friend, philosopher and guide to the rural folk. Banks have not been able to penetrate into remote areas due to their several internal and external rigidities.
 
With the RBI announcing the entry norms for another round of private banks, India Post should seize the opportunity to convert itself into a bank, inter alia, with stipulated capitalisation.
 
If this happens, the rural offices of India Post can be consolidated into rural branches of, say, an India Post Bank.

Diversified Products of India Post

India Post has been doing an excellent job as far as mobilisation of small savings is concerned. Latest statistics indicate that there are some 26 crore deposit accounts worth around Rs 4-lakh crore (excluding NSC VIII and KVP). MIS and RD together command almost 70 per cent of the balance outstanding (see chart).
 
Besides, it has been doing well in providing diversified financial services, such as life insurance, mutual fund, e-money order and forex services. Its deposits plus the capital mobilised can be on-lent to the financially excluded.
 
Small-scale lending is not knowledge-intensive and, therefore, the existing staff can very well manage it. However, a word of caution: rural savings should be utilised in rural areas.
 
Besides savings products, small credit and other remittance services, India Post Bank can render insurance services too as it has vast experience running the Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural PLI schemes.
 
PLI is the first life insurance scheme introduced way back in 1884 and today it has around 46.86 lakh active policies with a sum assured of Rs 64,077 crore. The corresponding figures for RPLI are, respectively, 1.22 crore and Rs 66,132 crore.

Technology

There should be two subsidiaries of India Post Bank: one for rural operations and the other for urban. It is perceived that the rural banking subsidiary will be able to make a visible dent on the problem of financial exclusion in the country.
 
India Post is ready with a plan to upgrade its technological capability. In fact, its implementation has already begun.
 
The same would be harnessed for use by the India Post Bank for promoting FI. Already, around 38 crore MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) accounts are with India Post through which beneficiaries receive their wages.
 
However, the question is what would happen to urban and metro offices of India Post.
They may be consolidated into urban branches and the urban banking subsidiary of India Post Bank would manage these branches and their business.
 
However, for some time to come these branches should not resort to medium- or large-scale lending because that would require intensive credit knowledge, risk management techniques, and so on, which the existing staff would not know.
 
So they will have to be trained. And till such time the subsidiary should practise what is known as “narrow banking”, that is, investing the deposits mobilised in 100 per cent secured government and public sector debt securities.

Addressing the Change

However, India Post Bank should make investments in modernising the newly formed branches, provide the required wherewithal — such as two-wheelers, hand-held devices and mobiles — to its marketing staff to do business in remote areas.
 
Once India Post becomes a bank, it would infuse a sense of enhanced pride into its staff whose salary and perks will also be equal to that of the bank staff.
 
Necessary changes at the board level need to be made and various other committee members cherry-picked.
 
However, it is felt that a seasoned banker from pubic sector banks, preferably from SBI, should be the CEO of India Post Bank, with two group executives for the rural and urban subsidiaries.
 
Converting India Post into a bank and utilising the major part of its services for FI can be compared to the mythical sagar manthan (churning of the seas).
 
Both amrit (nectar) and bisha (poison) are likely to come out from the churning. Attempts should be made to conserve the good and guard against the evil through various risk-management techniques, HR interventions, good corporate governance, customer relationship management, and so on.
 
Like Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, one day India can proudly say that it has an exclusive bank for FI.
 
M. R. Das
 
(The author is a former commercial bank economist.)
 

India Post to enter banking space

The Indian postal department plans to enter the banking business with RBI deciding to grant new bank licences to entities with credible track-record.
 
Sources said the Department of Posts, which a strong foot print in rural areas, has appointed Ernst and Young as consultant for proposed 'Post Bank'.
 
"Ernst and Young is expected to submit detailed project report by April 2013, after which all necessary measures will taken up to apply for banking licence,"a source at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology told PTI.
Sources added that Department of Post (DoP) may need Cabinet approval for setting Post Bank of India.
 
The Reserve Bank of India today issued the much-awaited guidelines for new banking licences. Among other terms, new banks should open at least 25 per cent of branches in unbanked rural centres.
 
Of the 1.55 lakh post offices, around 24,000 district offices may be ready to offer banking services in next two years. Post offices are being enabled by core banking solution's connecting nationwide branches as part of an transformative IT project.
DoP is in process of setting up 1,000 ATMs. The country has around 90,000 bank branches at present. "Post Bank shall not only take care of the banking needs of the rural poor but shall also converge with micro-insurance and micro-remittance services of the Department of Posts," the source said.
 
The head offices chosen for setting up ATMs covers all the states, with Andhra Pradesh leading the tally at 100 ATMs, followed by Tamil Nadu (92) and Uttar Pradesh (73).
 
As many as 61 ATMs would be set up in Maharashtra, 60 ATMs in Karnataka, 51 ATMs each in Kerala and Rajasthan.
 
As per data shared with Parliament, there were over 26 crore operational small savings accounts in the post offices as on March 31, 2012 having deposits worth Rs 1.9 lakh crore.

Courtesy : The Economic Times, 22 Feb. 2013

Now India Post from Cash Based Accounting System to Accrual Based Accounting System

A robust Accounting System that reflects a correct, transparent and fair financial position of an entity is vital for the success of any organization. This coupled with the fact that the Department of Posts is in the process of migrating from the Cash Based Accounting System to Accrual Based Accounting System, a 4 day training programme for the staff and officers of the Office of the Director of Accounts, Lucknow Circle, was initiated in Lucknow from 12th March to 15th March 2013.
 
The Training is being organized by the Department of Posts, and conducted by the Committee on Public Finance. The training programme was presided by Ms Aprajita Atique, Director of Accounts (Postal), Lucknow. Shri Rajeev Sharma, Chairman Lucknow Branch of the ICAI delivered the theme address and Shri CA. Shashank Mishra, Secretary Lucknow Branch of ICAI also addressed the participants of the Training Programme. The training faculties are all from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Similar training is contemplated in all accounting circles of the Department of Posts across the country as a prelude to the accounting system migrating process.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

डाक विभाग ने कुम्भ पर्व के अंतिम स्नान महाशिवरात्रि पर जारी किया विशेष डाक आवरण

डाक विभाग द्वारा कुम्भ पर्व में महाशिवरात्रि के स्नान (10 मार्च) पर विशेष आवरण का विरूपण एवं विमोचन जारी किया गया। इलाहाबाद प्रधान डाकघर में आयोजित कार्यक्रम में राजर्षिटंडन मुक्तविश्वविधालय के कुलपति प्रो. ए॰ के॰ बक्शी ने पोस्टमास्टर जनरल लेफ्टिनेंट कर्नल ए॰ के. गुप्ता  निदेशक डाक सेवाएँ  कृष्ण कुमार यादव के साथ विशेष आवरण का विरूपण एवं विमोचन किया।
      इस अवसर पर अपने उदबोधन में मुख्य अतिथि प्रो॰ ए॰ के॰ बक्शी ने कहा कि भारत में प्राचीन काल से ही धर्म एवं आध्यात्म की एक लम्बी परंपरा रही है और कुम्भ उन सभी को आत्मसात करते हुए एक लघु भारत का एहसास है। उन्होने कुम्भ पर्व के अंतिम स्नान महाशिवरात्रि पर जारी विशेष आवरण की सराहना करते हुए कहा कि इनके माध्यम से प्रयाग एवं कुम्भ की संस्कृति देश ही नहीं विदेशों में भी सुवासित होगी। पोस्टमास्टर जनरल लेफ्टिनेंट कर्नल ए॰ के॰ गुप्ता ने महाशिवरात्रि पर्व पर प्रकाश डालते हुए बताया कि महाशिवरात्रि का पर्व फाल्गुन मास के कृष्ण पक्ष की चतुर्दशी के दिन मनाया  जाता है। धर्मग्रंथों के अनुसार, इसी दिन भगवान शंकर और भगवती पार्वती का विवाह हुआ था। यह पर्व हमें कल्याणकारी कार्य करने के लिए प्रेरित करता है।
      इलाहाबाद क्षेत्र के निदेशक डाक सेवाएँ  कृष्ण कुमार यादव ने कार्यक्रम को संबोधित करते हुए कहा कि जैसे कुम्भ में भिन्न मत-मतांतर एवं धर्मों के अनुयायियों का समावेश होता है वैसे ही भगवान शंकर की प्रकृति भी समस्त विरोधाभाषों को समावेशित करते हुए एकता का संदेश देती है। श्री यादव ने कहा कि धर्म जीवन का एक मूलभूत तत्व है पर इसे आज सामाजिक सरकारों के साथ जोड़ने की जरूरत है।
      कार्यक्रम का संचालन सहायक निदेशक  आर॰ एन॰ यादव, अतिथियों का स्वागत प्रवर अधीक्षक डाकघर इलाहाबाद  रहमतुल्लाह आभार ज्ञापन  ए॰ के॰ श्रीवास्तव, कुम्भ मेला अधिकारी (डाक) द्वारा किया गया। कार्यक्रम में सहायक निदेशक मधुसुदन प्रसाद मिश्रा, सीनियर पोस्टमास्टर टी. बी. सिंह, अधीक्षक आर॰ एन॰ यादव, निरीक्षक दीपक कुमार, अर्जित सोनी, रजनीश श्रीवास्तव सहित तमाम अधिकारी, कर्मचारी, फिलाटेलिस्ट, साहित्यकार आदि उपस्थित थे।