Post office savings schemes such as recurring deposit (RD), public provident fund (PPF) and Sukanya Smariddhi Scheme (SSY) require annual minimum/periodical contribution towards the account. An app from India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) enables investors to do online processing of such transactions instantly. Here’s a snapshot of features, pros and cons of this mobile app, which is available both on the android and iOS platforms.
Features
The on-boarding process is fairly simple if you have a KYC (know your customer)-compliant savings account with IPPB already. If you do not have such account, you can open an account too on the app using PAN, Aadhaar and registered mobile number. Note that savings account with IPPB is not the same as post office savings bank (POSB) account.
Once the IPPB account is created,the app can be used to transfer sums to your post office schemes, namely RD, PPF and SSY. The app only enables transfer and not creation of account under these schemes.
Money to this IPPB account can be transferred just like you transfer money to any other bank account. The online methods include transferring through net-banking or digital UPI payment apps such as PhonePe. One can also send money to the IPPB account from your POSB account.
Transfer to the respective post office schemes can be made by selecting the investment product displayed under the ‘post office services’ in the app. The app asks for the account number of the scheme you are investing into and your customer id with the post office.
IPPB send a notification after every successful payment transfer.
Generally, post office customers are allowed to take a loan against some of the schemes such as RD and PPF investments subject to certain conditions. The IPPB app enables users to make repayments in the case of loans taken against your recurring deposit.
Pros and cons
It is common practice that we open an account in a particular post office and then move places or towns. With PPF and SSY being long-term products, this app helps overcome the disability of having to be present in the same location or depend on agents to make the contribution.
However, IPPB app is not the only route. Payments to RD/PPF opened at post office (barring SSY) can also be made using net-banking facility provided by India Post on your POSB account. If you have opened investments in these small savings schemes with banks instead of the post office, you won’t have any problem as you can do the transfer at the click of the mouse sitting wherever you want.
One aspect in which the app stands out is user interface. On selecting a particular investment product, it displays the minimum and maximum annual limits and deposits already made by you in the current year clearly. This, along with transaction history, helps users keep a track of their investments, and avoid breaching the prescribed limits..
Further, you need not worry about maintaining any balance in the IPPB savings account since there is no minimum balance requirement.
Not allowing fund transfers to other schemes such as NSC and SCSS is a drawback of the app. Also, as mentioned, one cannot open/close the SSA, PPF or RD accounts using the app. No option to check the cumulative balance in these post office schemes is also a disappointment.