India Post Payments Bank and Reserve Bank Innovation Hub partner for innovations in financial products and services

Despite rapid advancement and adoption of mobile technology at low data usage costs in the last decade, there remain large sections of the population as well as micro and small businesses that have limited access to essential financial services and expertise, it said.

Since universal access to finance is one of the critical requirements for society’s inclusive development, IPPB and RBIH will plan, design and execute innovative products and offerings to bridge the existing gap by bringing digitalised services to the customer’s doorstep.

The collaboration between IPPB and RBIH will explore projects by leveraging the deep rural reach of IPPB-Department of Posts (DoP) to take Rural Finance to a billion Indians.

The projects will enable access to sustainable and secure financial services to every segment of society, through research and innovation.

Additionally, IPPB shall be an active participant and partner with RBIH on initiatives of national importance led by RBIH

RBIH CEO Rajesh Bansal said, “Customer centricity is at the heart of everything we do at RBIH. India’s strong digital stack offers us the unique opportunity to bring everyone into the country’s financial ambit. I am excited about the possibilities our collaboration with IPPB can open, and the impact we can create for the citizens of India, together!”

Speaking on the partnership, IPPB MD & CEO J Venkatramu said, “Since its inception, IPPB has been committed towards promoting financial inclusion among low-income and under-banked segments at the last mile by leveraging the unparalleled network of Post Offices, and technology-driven banking solutions. The partnership with RBIH is a milestone in IPPB's journey to leverage its digital platform and physical network for providing comprehensive, customer-centric, and convenient digital solutions to a billion Indians”.

The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up to promote and facilitate an environment that accelerates innovation across the financial sector.

RBIH will provide the platform to anchor a shared vision among all financial ecosystem stakeholders and aid them in crafting forward-looking innovation strategies while addressing the most pressing issues in the Indian financial sector.

The organisation serves as a focal point to position India as a global innovation hub for a network of financial services providers, fintech innovation hubs, policymakers, technologists, academia, and the investor community.

The network will be empowered to ideate, incubate new capabilities, and enable access to sustainable, secure, and frictionless financial services for over a  billion Indians.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100 percent equity owned by the Government of India.

IPPB was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India.

The fundamental mandate of IPPB is to remove barriers for the unbanked and under-banked and reach the last mile leveraging a network comprising 160,000 post offices (145,000 in rural areas) and 400,000 postal employees.

IPPB’s reach and its operating model are built on the key pillars of India Stack - enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers' doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device.

Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages. It aims at providing a fillip to a less cash economy and contributing to the vision of Digital India.