IT and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told in Parliament that the government plans to digitise nearly 1.3 lakh rural post offices by March 2017. The government has approved Rs 4,909 crore for modernisation of 1.55 lakh post offices including 1.29 lakh post offices in rural areas, called Gramin Dak Sewak post offices. The modernisation process will include setting up centralised data centres and disaster recovery centres, networking of all post offices.

The budget also includes training postmen who will be given solar powered hand held devices, connected to data centers via SIMs, which will give rural consumers access to financial remittances and saving accounts through biometric scanning apart from other identification tools. Telecommunication Consultant India Limited ( TCIL) will provide the handheld devices alongside RICOH India Limited, and also ensure connectivity, while Infosys will be the Rural System Integrator.

The devices will also offer core banking solution through a mobile app, which ties into the Postal Department’s future plan of introducing payment bank services. Core banking solution has been rolled out in 18,231 Post Offices, which is now the largest, surpassing State Bank of India.

The project will increase the rural reach of the postal department, traffic of financial remittances, savings accounts, rural postal life insurance, disbursing social security schemes and improving mail operation processes.