FSS (Financial Software and Systems), an integrated payment solutions provider, on Tuesday, formally announced its partnership with India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to promote financial inclusion among the underserved and unbanked segments.
As part of the collaboration, IPPB will use FSS’ Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AePS) services to deliver interoperable and affordable doorstep banking services to customers across India.
“In 2017, FSS got into a relationship with India Post when they set up IPPB. FSS’ AePS solution, combined with IPPB’s expansive last-mile distribution reach, will empower citizens of the country with a range of digital payment products and advance India’s vision towards a less-cash economy,” Krishnan Srinivasan, Global Chief Revenue Officer, FSS, told
Payment partner
FSS is also IPPB’s preferred payment partner for Bill Payments, UPI, Card Management System, PoSability, Aadhaar Pay, Smart Recon and Switching systems.
Highlighting the benefit of AePS-based cash withdrawal solutions, FSS said in a press releasethat the average time to reach a banking access point in rural and peri-urban areas potentially ranges between 1.5 and 5 hours, compared to the average of 30 minutes in urban areas.
Using FSS’ AePS solution and leveraging its vast network of over 136,000 post offices and 300,000 postal workers, IPPB will serve the unbanked and underbanked population in the rural parts of the country, including nearly 410 million Jan Dhan account holders.
“Having launched AePS services, the bank has become the single-largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking services to customers of any bank,” J Venkatramu, MD and CEO, India Post Payments Bank, was quoted in the statement.
“Right now, we are talking about cash-in and cash-out using AePS, but the same solution can be used to provide savings products, dispense micro credit, enable merchant payments, offer micro insurance, domestic remittances and other financial products,” said Srinivasan.
Cash withdrawals
He also added that IPPB has crossed the milestone of over ₹8,000 crore cash withdrawals using FSS’ AePS solution as on date since the lockdown.
“We saw a huge volume spike in AePS transactions during the Covid-led lockdown since people didn’t have access to ATMs or were apprehensive to use them,” said Srinivasan. He also added that AePS solutions can also be used by non-financial institutions, such as healthcare companies, to connect their solutions to the masses at the bottom of the pyramid.
FSS, which has 10 more customers in India using its AePS solutions, is looking to tap other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.