Fincluvation: India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

In News

• Recently, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) announced the launch of Fincluvation under the ongoing Azadi ka Amrit Mahotasav.

Fincluvation

• It is a joint initiative to collaborate with the Fintech Startup community to co-create and innovate solutions for financial inclusion.
• It is the first-of-its-kind industry initiative.
• It would create a powerful platform to mobilize the start-up community towards building meaningful financial products aimed at financial inclusion.
• The country has made rapid strides in the FINTECH space in Global Tech world leading innovations like UPI, Aadhaar. 
• The combination can deliver unmatched value to the citizens of the country. It comprises of:
  • IPPB’s Banking stack, 
  • DoP’s trustworthy doorstep service network and 
  • The techno-functional acumen of start-ups.
• Fincluvation will be a permanent platform of IPPB. 
• Customer base: IPPB and DoP collectively serve close to 430 million customers through the neighbourhood post office. Further, it is one of the largest and trusted postal networks in the world with over 400,000 post office employees and Gramin Dak Sevaks. 
• Startups are encouraged to develop solutions aligned with any of the following tracks-
  • Creditization: Develop Innovative & Inclusive credit products aligned with the use cases of target customers and take them to their doorsteps through Postal network.
  • Digitization: Bring convenience through convergence of traditional services with Digital Payment Technologies such as making the traditional Money Order service as Interoperable Banking service.
  • Any Market-led solutions that can help solve any other problem relevant to IPPB and/or DoP in serving the target customers.

Advantages 

• Fincluvation will engage startups to participate, ideate, develop and market intuitive and tailored products and services for the customers. 
• It also encourages startups to develop solutions relating to creditization, digitization & more.  
• It can help in meeting the varied and complex needs of the consumers through thoughtful, empathetic product design, and rapid prototyping among users. 
• It would also help develop technology-led financial solutions for India. 
• It will also allow the start-ups to work with IPPB and DoP experts to develop solutions and conduct pilots using the postal network and IPPB’s technology stack. 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

• It was launched on September 1, 2018 under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication  
• Its 100% equity is owned by the Government of India. 
• Vision: To build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. 
• Fundamental mandate: 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 is 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. 

Image Courtesy: BS 

• 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. 
• IPPB is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. 
• India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Their motto stands true – Every customer is important; every transaction is significant, and every deposit is valuable.

Conclusion 

• Intersection of technology with financial services coupled with traditional distribution networks is opening up a new set of business opportunities. 

Source: PIB