Union Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha has said, as many as 650 branches of the India Post payments bank are likely to be operational across the country by next month. Speaking at a press conference in Bhopal, Mr Sinha said, the work of system integration of the payments bank has been completed and processes mandated by the Reserve Bank of India will be completed within one week.

The minister said the launch of the postal department's payments bank will enable more than 1.5 lakh post offices to become access points for people to avail banking services. He said it will also help the government's plans for financial inclusion and direct transfer of benefits in remote areas.

India Post had received permission from the RBI to start a payments bank in January last year, following which it set up two branches, on a pilot basis, at Raipur and Ranchi.

Speaking about milestones achieved by his department in the past one year, the minister said, a total of 62,000 out of 1.29 lakh post offices were networked under the Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India (DARPAN) project.