India Post is reportedly planning to equip postmen with point of sale (PoS) machines that will allow postal recipients to pay for parcels with a debit or credit card. The Financial Express reported that the push comes as a part of the India Post's ambitions of becoming a key player in the digital banking space. According to the report the project is expected to be rolled out within a matter of weeks. The suggested timeline to have postmen carry PoS machines would coincide with the suggested final rollout of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) with the setting up of 650 branches by the end of April 2018. IPPB is currently only accessible at two branches in Raipur and Ranchi. Debit cards in India Although the government's drive to get people to open bank accounts in rural India has led to the growth debit card holders, the lack of infrastructure has limited use of these cards. According to numbers shared by the Finance Ministry in the Parliament, 235.6 million RuPay debit cards have been issued to Jan Dhan Account holders as of 28 February 2018. As of January 2018, the number of debit cards held in India stands at 846.7 million, with 4.23 million new cardholders being added in the first month of the new year. POS machines FE reports that the local arm of French payments company Lyra Networks India has been given the mandate to develop and connect the network of machines. The report speculates that anywhere between…
