India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has announced a partnership with LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) for offering home loan products to more than 4.5 crore customers of the former.

The specialized division of India Post said that it will use its network of 650 branches and over 136,000 banking access points to make the home loan products of LIC Housing Finance accessible to its customers across India.

As per a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the parties, the housing finance company will handle credit underwriting, processing, and disbursement for all home loans. On the other hand, India Post Payments Bank will take care of sourcing.

The partnership with LIC Housing Finance is said to be part of the India Post unit’s strategy to broaden its variety of products and services and to serve the banking and financial requirements of diverse customers, particularly the unbanked and underserved.

Y. Viswanatha Gowd — MD and CEO of LIC Housing Finance said: “The strategic MoU with IPPB will help us to further deepen our market penetration and enable us to increase LICHFL’s home loan product outreach in untapped geographies across the country.

“With an unmatchable presence of Post Offices, we see this strategic partnership as a significant step that will help our long-term business growth and improve our market share. This is in line with the Company’s objective to increase business contribution from Tier 2 markets and beyond.”

As of now, India Post Payments Bank is distributing various general and life insurance products by partnering with insurance companies.

Credit products is said to be a natural extension for the payments bank for its customers at the last mile. The company said that its on-ground workforce of around 200,000 postmen and gramin dak sevaks, who are equipped with micro-ATMs and biometric devices through its doorstep banking service will have a key role in offering the housing loans from LIC Housing Finance.

J. Venkatramu — MD and CEO of India Post Payments Bank said: “Easy access to credit for buying a house is an important prerequisite towards achieving inclusive growth. Since its inception till now and going forward, IPPB is committed towards promoting financial inclusion among low-income and underbanked segments at the last mile by leveraging the unparalleled network of Post Offices, and technology-driven banking solutions.

“The partnership with LICHFL is a significant tie-up in IPPB’s journey to become one of the largest platforms for availing credit products by our customers for meeting various needs, in line with our focus on providing comprehensive customer-centric, convenient and digital solutions to our customers.”

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