Mangaluru: The sixth post office ATM of the state was inaugurated here at its head post office in Hampankatta by MP Nalin Kumar Kateel on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion Postmaster General (South Karnataka Region) Shirtady Rajendra Kumar said the ATMs were set up at Head post offices and other urban centres where the volume of transactions was more. RuPay Post Office ATM cards will be issued to saving bank account holders with a minimum balance of Rs. 500.

Initially ATM cards were said to have been given to serving and retired employees. The process of issuing these ATM cards to saving bank account holders who apply for this facility has begun. “There are around 1.70 lakh savings bank account holders in Mangaluru Division, of which 70,000 persons who hold accounts in post offices have migrated to core banking solutions”, Kumar said.

This is the first ATM in the city situated at the Hampankatta Head Post Office opened by India Post. Another ATM is expected to be opened at the Kulshekar Post Office here in the next few months. A third ATM will come up shortly at the Puttur Head Post Office it is said.

These ATMs are part of the core banking solutions being put in place at the post offices. As many as 17 post offices in Mangaluru Division and 14 in Puttur division have so far migrated to Core Banking Solutions (CBS). Savings bank account holders in the CBS post offices in these two divisions and the other CBS post offices in the country can make use of this ATM. It has been intimated that the ATM cards of other banks cannot be used at the Post Office ATM as they have not received permission to do so yet.

The 17 post offices that have migrated to CBS include the offices at Kankanady, District Court complex, Mary Hill, Surathkal and Mulky Bazar.

MP Kateel said that the opening of the ATM was a step towards taking services of India Post to the public. Retired Senior Superintendent of the post office S. Gopal was the first to transact from his pension account using the ATM card.