Withdraw cash without charge at PO ATMs

Chennai :All 97 ATMS operated by the post offices in Tamil Nadu will not charge the public for withdrawing cash and this facility will be available for non-post office account holders also, a senior official with Chennai postal circle told DC.

In the wake of banks charging the public for cash withdrawals through ATMs, post offices are committed to serving the public. Further, the norms for opening savings account are also simplified at all post offices. “Unlike private and nationalised banks there are no step-by-step procedures to open a savings account and our ATMS will follow the same guidelines prescribed by the Reserve Bank,” the official said.

To open an account, all you need is Rs 50 as registration charge and an Aadhaar card. The account holders will be given debit cards on the same day and to avail cheque facilities a minimum balance of '500 should be maintained. There will be no charges for ATM withdrawals and as on date there are 3 crore-account holders in the TN postal circle and we are hoping for a surge in the number of account holders due to our customer friendly initiatives and all post offices have been directed to ensure that the pass book entries of customers are updated promptly unlike the banks, the official said.

“There is a good potential for India Posts as they have started providing core banking facilities for customers. With banks now fleecing public,  post offices can be a role model banker,” activist Aarani S. Sreenivasan of north Chennai.