The decision of Indian Postal Department to seek a Banking license from RBI through the Licensing Scheme meant for private sector has been an object of discussion since the announcement was made. The application is a source of embarassment to RBI which now has the challenge of deciding whether to grant a license to Indian Post or not as a traditional Bank.
There have been many positive reviews by experts indicating why Indian Post deserves a Banking license. However, I am personally not convinced that it is a good idea for Indian Post to become a “Commercial Bank”. In fact Indian Post has a greater future by simply modernizing its traditional services rather than becoming a Bank. By converting itself into a Bank, India will lose a great digital post service that can be developed by only the department of post and not by any other entity in future.
Let me present some of my preliminary views in this regard so that E&Y instead of advising the Postal department to convert itself into a Bank can work on how to modernize the postal system into a “Digital Postal System”.