The regular postman that delivers your mail, parcels and money orders can turn into a seller of insurance policies soon as per a plan chalked out by India Post Payments Bank. According to a Finance Express report, the postmen and Grameen Dak Sevak, as the rural postmen are called are being recruited and trained with the approval of the Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDAI) for this purpose. They will become the Point of Sales person, or simply sellers of insurance policies, directly to the public.

When the Payments Bank licences were being given out, the Department of Post obtained one and has set up the India Post Payment Bank (IPPB). The 1,55,000 post offices in India are already offering many financial services, like savings accounts and so on.

The department employs more than 300,000 postmen and grameen dak sevaks.

The objective behind IRDAI approving this arrangement is to see that the insurance products reach the remotest parts of the country and giving the largely left out sections of the society access to insurance products.

However, there are procedures and conditions attached to becoming an insurance seller. They have to be provided training for this purpose. IPPB has assumed the responsibility for not only training these employees but for their acts of omission and commission as well while engaged in selling the policies.

So, out of these 1,55, 000 people, the IPPB will identify the ones to be chosen for this activity and send their lists to IRDAI. The India Post Payments Bank will have to finalise its arrangements with the insurance companies for selling their products. These have to be within the IRDAI (Registration of Corporate Agents) Regulations, 2015.

The tasks of training and getting the postmen/grameen dak sevaks certified, reporting the transactions on a daily basis and completing the KYC requirements etc., will all be the responsibility of IPPB.