India Post to equip postmen with Point of Sale machines

The department of post will soon give point of sale (PoS) machines to postmen, which will allow people to pay for their parcels with debit cards. The expected rollout of the scheme will most likely happen in the next financial year, according to a report in Financial Express.

The Indian branch of a French payments company, Lyra Networks India, is responsible for developing the network of PoS machines across the country. Close to 1.5-.2.1 lakh new PoS machines could be given to the postmen for this project; each machine will cost somewhere between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000.

“This a very big project as it will entail a PoS machine for every postman. We are going to ensure the connectivity for these machines. This project is very important for digitisation because now everybody will be able to pay with a card," Christophe Mariette, chairman of the company, told the paper.

The government may have to incur costs other than the price of the devices. Providing internet connectivity in all areas and logistical help will also cost the government significantly. It will not be in vain, however, since many industry players have reported doubling of the use of debit cards since demonetisation.

This scheme is in line with the postal department’s plan to roll out a full-service payments bank, under which postmen were given micro-ATMs in 2017. With branches in Raipur and Ranchi, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) went online on January 30, 2017.

Communications minister Manoj Sinha informed Parliament that IPPB will have 650 branches by April 2018. Many have opened bank accounts and received debit cards, but they have not been put to use to make these payments on the scale the government had hoped.

Citizens opened 313 million Jan Dhan accounts with deposits of Rs 76,117 crores, as on March 7 and RuPay cards issued for the account holders were 236 million.