The Reserve Bank of India has given the department of posts the licence to provide money changing service in the country. With this, the postal department will be able to offer foreign exchange services through its 1,54,000 branches. The detailed operational plans are being formulated for introduction of the service.

The department of posts has already taken a number of initiatives to diversify and expand its range of financial services. It had recently launched the international money transfer service in association with the US-based Western Union Financial Services. Through this tie up, remitting money into the country instantaneously from as many as 185 countries worldwide has become possible on a real-time basis.

The service, launched in April, is currently available at more than 500 post offices across the country and through it, $2 million worth of foreign exchange has already been remitted into the country.

The department has also initiated a partnership with IDBI Principal Asset Management Company to distribute the latter’s range of mutual fund services through post offices. Similar partnerships with SBI Mutual Funds and Prudential ICICI are also in place.

Since February this year, when these facilities were launched, 175 post offices across the country have been able to transact business in excess of Rs 10 lakh.

In August, DoP signed a memorandum of understanding with UTI Bank to explore the possibility of providing value-added services like ATMs, cash management services and easy loans.

An MoU signed with MasterCard International in September will enable the DoP to offer card-based solutions. Through this alliance, the DoP is looking at offering pre-paid cards, debit cards and smart cards. The alliance will also enable extension of these facilities outside India at a later stage.