New Delhi : All 650 branches of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) are expected to be launched by April 2018, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted licence to carry on payments bank activities on January 20, 2017 and since then IPPB has launched two pilot branches on January 30, 2017 at Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand), Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

“IPPB aims to have a pan-India reach and, subject to feasibility, all post offices (approximately 1.55 lakh) across the country including in Chhattisgarh will progressively become access points for the IPPB, which will provide banking products and services as per extant guidelines of RBI on payments bank,” the minister said.

—IANS