~ 8 ~    IJMRD 2015; 2(3): 08-12 www.allsubjectjournal.com Impact factor: 3.672 Received: 14-02-2015 Accepted: 28-02-2015 E-ISSN: 2349-4182 P-ISSN: 2349-5979 Divyesh Kumar Assistant Professor, DSATM Bangalore. Correspondence: Divyesh Kumar Assistant Professor, DSATM Bangalore. A comparative study of post office services fostering financial inclusion – A Meta analytical approach Divyesh Kumar Abstract Postal services, since origination, all over the world have started with the concept of providing public service. However, over a period of time, the developed countries have orienting these services towards the provision of private goods. In contrast, the underdeveloped countries are operating to provide public goods. However in the case of emerging economies such as BRIC countries there is a dichotomy among the policy makers between the provision of public goods and private goods. In the Indian context, there is an ambiguity in the implementation of policies with respect to postal services to ensure inclusive growth in the rural and tribal areas. Against this backdrop this paper examines the practices adopted in the developed countries, emerging economies and underdeveloped countries. The Meta analytical approach is adopted for comparative purposes. The findings show that larger the postal network in the rural areas better will be the financial inclusion possibility. Women empowerment is possible only with making them financially strong; as an initiative they should have an easy access to the post bank services because of coalescence of transaction cost and transport time deters the women to access the postal services. Keywords: Public goods, financial inclusion, women empowerment 1. Introduction India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,54,866 post offices at the end of 2011. The Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) is one of the biggest savings banks in India. It collects savings from all corners of the country. The savings collected by the POSB play an important role in view of capital formation in the Indian economy. Indian Postal department is planning to start a bank, to be tentatively called the Post Bank of India (PBI). The India Post already provides various financial services including a Post Office Savings Bank, Postal Life Insurance, Pension, Payments and Money Transfer Services. Indian postal department is proposing a capital investment of Rs.1,000 crore for the bank. It will be set up as a subsidiary with the postal department holding a 51% stake in it. It also intends to rope in major public sector banks like the State Bank of India to pick up a 25% stake in the new venture. Of the remaining equity, 5% will be offered to employees of India Post and the rest will be offered to the public. The proposal to set up the Post Bank of India is under consideration in the Department. However, at present it is at conceptual stage. The PBI has to be set up soon to facilitate the inclusive growth. Postal systems are universal in nature. However, due to changes in the economic conditions post world war, the nature of postal services has undergone many changes. In the developed countries the concept of business efficiency and technology has made the postal systems of least importance. In contrast, the postal systems are the backbone of economy and commerce in the underdeveloped countries. However, in emerging markets, particularly in India, the policies related to postal systems are at the cross roads indicating that the policy makers are not giving due priority to the development of postal systems in the rural and underdeveloped tribal areas in India. Since the urban rural divide is so wide, unless the policies are rural oriented the divide continues to grow, affecting the socio-economic conditions of the rural population. Against these back drop, this paper examines the different systems and services rendered by the postal services in the different parts of the world. The study is organized as follows. Chapter 2 deals with literature review. The methodology is dealt in chapter 3, limitations in chapter 4, analysis and results are dealt in chapter 5. Conclusions and directions for further research are incorporated in chapter 6. Since this study is based on Meta analysis, setting of hypothesis and its testing has not been considered. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development 2015; 2(3): 08-12