India Post to install 3000 ATMs,1.35 lakh micro-ATMs by September 15

Even as its application to start a commercial bank is pending, India Post has drawn a massive plan to install as many as 3,000 ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs at the ubiquitous post offices across the country for savings account holders by September 2015, a top official has said.

"We will be starting with three ATMs to be installed in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore on February 5 and then ramp it up gradually," postal department secretary Padmini Gopinath told a select group of reporters here over the weekend.

She said 1,000 ATMs with the India Post branding will be put in within the first year, which will be ramped up massively to 3,000 in the next 18 months.

To start with, the ATMs can be used only by 26 crore savings account-holders who save with the postal department, but Gopinath exuded confidence that within six months of the launch, they will get the interoperability permission from the Reserve Bank.

Postal savings are worth around Rs 6.05 trillion, which is half the savings in the largest lender SBI and more than double that of the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank.

Through interoperability, India Post will join the National Financial Switch, which will benefit India Post account holders to transact at the banks' ATMs and vice versa, she added.

India Post has been working with software major Infosys on this project, she added.

The micro ATMs will be handheld devices to be operated at the post office level while the ATM will be similar to the one operated by any commercial bank, she added.

The postal department, which has 1.55 lakh post offices over 90 per cent of which are in villages, offers the savings account to people across the country and pays an interest of 4 per cent per annum for such deposits. The account offers cheque facility at present.

It can be noted that the Department of Posts is fighting a very contentious battle to convert itself into a full fledged bank, asserting that its reach can help achieve the goal of financial inclusion.

However, the finance ministry has expressed some reservations about the idea, while Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has exuded confidence of winning over his Cabinet colleagues to get the go ahead for the 'Postal Bank'.

Source:-The Economic Times

Reserve Bank to withdraw all pre-2005 currency notes from circulation

In a move that is likely to hit currency hoarders and counterfeiters, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to withdraw from circulation all currency notes issued prior to 2005.

“From April 1, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes. Banks will provide exchange facility for these notes until further communication,’’ the RBI said on Wednesday, clarifying that notes issued before 2005 would continue to be legal tender.

“The public can easily identify the notes to be withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not have on them the year of printing on the reverse side,’’ the RBI said.

From July 1, however, those wanting to exchange more than 10 pieces of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in a bank where they do not have an account will have to provide proof of residence and identity. The RBI’s move will have the effect of flushing out black money, according to bankers.

A former bank official said the RBI announcement would leave currency hoarders with no option but to liquidate their unaccounted holdings by spending or exchanging them. The move is a well thought out exercise by the RBI to capture the ``money flows’’ into the system and also help flush out counterfeit notes, said another banker. Notes issued after 2005 have added security features that make counterfeiting difficult. Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist at ratings agency CRISIL, agrees that the spillover effect of the move will be to flush out black money. “Money has value as long as it is a medium of exchange and store of value. It loses its value when it ceases to be a medium of exchange. It’s like holding a dead body,’’ he said.

Pointing out that when the notes are exchanged in banks it will have the effect of bringing the money back into the system, Mr. Joshi felt it was a very good move for the economy.

With the RBI setting terms for exchange of these notes and income-tax authorities scrutinising big spends, it will now become that much simpler for the authorities to track these transactions.

SB ORDER NO-1/2014

SB Order 01/ 2014 : Printing of modified Standardised uniform SB Passbooks for CBS Post offices and change in text of information printed in the Passbook about Small Savings Scheme

Expected DA from Jan 2014 - 11%

The one more and another additional Dearness allowance to Central Government employees and Pensioners from Jan 2014 will be announced in the middle of March 2014.

This is too early and predict the enhancement in percentage of Dearness allowance with effect from January 2014. The prediction and announcement of this hike make us cool, that the additional DA will jump to 101% and another word, an additional DA would be 11%.

 But, still we have to wait for one more month, that the magic number of AICPIN would be increased by 3% and more..! From the existing level of the AICPIN is now 243, if it becomes 246 in end of December 2013, out prediction will be right…or otherwise certainly we would cross century in total Dearness allowance…

 The table describes the prediction of additional DA from Jan 2014…

Month	Year	AICPIN (IW) BY 2001=100	Points Increasing in AICPIN	Total	Average	App. DA	DA
Jun	2013	231	3	2648	220.67	90.62	90
Jul	2013	235	4	2671	222.58	92.28
Aug	2013	237	2	2694	224.5	93.93
Sep	2013	238	1	2717	226.42	95.59
Oct	2013	241	3	2741	228.42	97.32
Nov	2013	243	2	2766	230.5	99.12
Dec	2013	Expected 246	3	2793	232.75	101.06	101

Source : www.7thpaycommissionnews.in

Help Desk Management System (HDMS) to be made operational from 10/01/2014 by CEPT Mysore.

The newly developed ‘Help Desk Management System (HDMS)’ to be made operational from 10.01.2014 is an attempt to standardize the mechanism of providing support to the field units in respect of various technical issues in a number of application packages developed by CEPT, Mysore. At present the technical support is being provided through email using the support email id (support@ceptmysore.net).

This existing system has a number of limitations of which the most important is the limit of sending emails via Gmail on a particular day resulting in delayed replies to the field units. Moreover a particular issue is being raised at various levels e.g. PO / Division / Region / Circle multiple times resulting in multiple handlings of same case thereby delaying the new cases. “Help Desk Management System (HDMS)" is developed as a solution to a number of such issues. This application is hosted over the website of CEPT i.e. http://cept.gov.in under the ‘Support’ Menu.

The Salient features of this application are as follows:

1. Only registered users having valid user id and password (registered for logging into the CEPT website) can raise a technical issue, called “Ticket”, in respect of pre-defined modules. Any departmental employee can register as a user of CEPT Website & resultantly use the HDMS following due procedure detailed under the Signup link on the Home Page of http://cept.gov.in.

2. The technical issues can be raised for all types of applications developed / maintained by CEPT & being used at all types of offices in the department. However in the first phase of HDMS, a ticket can be raised in respect of 25 major modules / application / website being used at 06 major types of operative offices. The remaining applications / office type is planned to be included under HDMS in second phase subsequently.

3. Each technical issue raised is allotted a unique identity called “Ticket Number” automatically. All correspondences in connection with a particular issue may be seen under this unique ticket number. The user / ticket raiser may remind the CEPT in case the ticket raised by him is not replied within a pre-fixed time frame.

4. Each operative unit shall be mapped to the concerned Division / Region / Circle, which in turn will be able to view the tickets raised for the units under their administrative control. They can also remind on the pending tickets.

5. All the issues raised and solution provided by CEPT will be available for scrutiny at any time and thus in long run, the replies furnished by CEPT will be used to build a knowledge base.

6. The users are encouraged to provide their feedback on the application as well as on the individual tickets.

7. Please click on User Manual for Ticket Raiser to understand the functionality of the various options under HDMS

Source: cept.gov.in