Union Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad today directed the postal department to operationalize India Post Payment Bank by fast tracking the IT modernization.Addressing the annual Heads of Circles Conference held In Hyderabad today, he asked the postal department to play a major role in the country's economic and social development.The postal department has opened 85.28 lakh accounts with deposit money of Rs. 4500 crore under Sukanya Samridhi Yojana during 2015-16 and over 4 lakh policies of Atal Pension Yojana, Prime Minister Jivan Jyoti Bima Yojana and PM Suraksha Beema Yojana.Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the India Post Payment Bank will be operationalized from March 2017.He said the operationalization of the Payment Bank of India Post will move for Cabinet clearance soon.Addressing a press conference after a programme in Hyderabad, he asked the postal department plays an important role in the country's economic and social development and enable modernization of postal services through IT.Mentioning that the proposed Payment Bank will enhance financial inclusiveness, he said about 50 companies including foreign banks have shown keen interest to be partners with the bank in a form of third party insurance services. He said that the World Bank, City bank of America and banks from Germany and England are some of the foreign companies that are keen to partner with the Payment Bank.The minister said the e-commerce parcel and cash-on-delivery services of the postal services registered a growth of 80 percent during 2015-16 compared to that of 45% during previous year.