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World over postal services are undergoing a transformation with a boom of electronic mail and new technologies. Towing the line India Post is increasingly adopting new business by using its retailing strength and by providing a range of public utilities and new financial services, relevant to the socio-economic needs of each country. It is also simultaneously upgrading traditional services with continuing advances in communication technology. Besides, it is introducing new products and services to meet the challenges of providing faster and more reliable service to the customer.
India Post is committed to fulfilling the Government’s Universal Service Obligation in terms of providing basic postal services throughout the country, irrespective of terrain, at an affordable price. At the time of Independence, India had 23,344 Post Offices largely confined to urban areas and selected villages. Today, with 1,39,081 Post Offices, it is the largest postal network in the world with 1,55,618 Post Offices in rural areas as on March 2003. Ensuring daily delivery of dak (post) at the doorstep of every customer any where in the country, India Post has completed 150 years of its glorious service on October 01, 2004.
The services provided by India Post in terms of daily delivery of mails compares well with those provided by developed countries such as USA, Belgium, Germany and United Kingdom.
Delivery of Mail
The Department has laid down certain broad norms to assess the efficiency of mail delivery. Mail from one metro city to another is to be delivered within 48 to 72 hours. The same time frame is for the mail delivered between Delhi and State capitals. Letters within a District are to be delivered within 48 hours whereas inter-district and inter-State letters are normally delivered within 2 to 5 days depending on the distance involved and transport links. Mails relating to hilly, tribal and remote areas take longer as per specific local conditions.
All India Live Mail Survey is conducted every year to assess the delivery efficiency of mails. In 2003, percentage of mail delivered within the specified time frame was 88.6 for urban unregistered letters and 89.2 for rural areas. For registered letters, it was 88.4 per cent for urban and 89.2 per cent for rural areas.
Measures are initiated on an ongoing basis to improve the delivery system. The Metro Channel provides inter-metro mail link connecting six metros i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. On an average 4-5 lakh letters are processed daily in this channel. Under the Rajdhani Channel, national capital is linked with the 19 State capitals for faster flow of mails. Nearly 25-30 per cent of the mail posted in large cities is for delivery in the city itself. The Green Channel has been put into operation for this purpose and is functional in all major cities of the country. The Bulk Mail Channel takes care of bulk business mail, registered as well as unregistered, in the major cities. Business Post Centres or Mass Mailing Centers have been established in major cities to cater to the needs of bulk mailers. Since its introduction the Business Post has registered a growth of over 40 per cent in the last four years. In 2003-04, the revenue generated through Business Post is Rs. 365 crore. To ensure speedy transmission of newspapers and periodicals that are time-sensitive and posted in bulk, the Periodical Channel has been in operation. This Channel is operated in Metro Cities and all major towns.
Modernisation
For efficient and speedy handling of mail, automatic sorting machines are being set up in all the metros in a phased manner. Such machines are already in operation in Mumbai and Chennai. Proposals for setting up of automated processing centres at Delhi and Kolkota are under consideration. As a part of the modernization programme, computerization of the registration-sorting work in major mail offices has been undertaken. A beginning in this regard was made during the financial year 1995-96 by computerizing registration-sorting work at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. Following this, registration-sorting work in 69 mail offices has been computerized.
The computerization of Head Record Office (HRO) for proper maintenance of records was undertaken during the financial year 1997-98 by computerizing HRO Hyderabad Sorting Division. This was followed by computerization of 32 HROs till March 31, 2003.
New Initiatives
E-Bill Post service, launched recently as one of the technology-enabled services for customers is presently available at Bangalore and Kolkata and likely to start in other cities very soon. The service is useful for the payment of electricity, telephone, mobile, water and other utility bills at the post office counter. The user can go to a nearby post office to pay the bill.
E-Post is an e-enabled service launched nation wide on January 30, 2004 to bridge the digital divide. The internet revolution has allowed rapid exchange of communication through email. It enables booking from Customer’s home or office. Customer has to buy an e-post prepaid cash card. These cards can be bought from select Post Offices in denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs.1000. Customer can access the e-post portal indiapost.nic.in and register as a user. Once registered, messages can be easily sent by following the online instructions. Payments can be made online using the prepaid cash card only.
Data Post has been recently introduced as an innovative medium for connecting people with the corporates. It provides zero error data on households with detailed information on consumer addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail ID, marital status, gender, age, occupation and passport ownership.The service can generate an elaborate database for corporates attuned to the specific needs and target to locate the right customer.
Internet based Track and Trace System has been installed for Speed Post wherein a customer can trace the status of his consignment online through the Internet. It has been operationlised in the National Speed Post Centres. In the Tenth Five Year Plan, all the State Speed Post Centres will be linked with the web-server for providing on-line track and trace service for all speed post articles. Speed Post, introduced in 1986 linking seven metro cities, with a view to provide fast and time-bound delivery service, presently, has a network linking 140 major cities/towns in India on the national network and 97 countries in the international network.
Diversification
World wide postal services are diversifying into financial services, leveraging their traditional presence and unmatched reach. India Post has been into it for a considerably long period. Post Office Saving Bank (POSB) constitutes the mainstay of the financial services provided by the Department of Posts. The POSB is the oldest and the largest saving bank of the country with over 160 million account holders and cumulative deposits in excess of Rs. 2600 billion. The POSB is operated by the Department as an agency function on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and constitutes the single largest source of revenue for the Department earning approximately Rs. 2000 crore during 2003-04.
The Postal Department has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. in January 2004 to function as its corporate agent, for the sale of selected non-life insurance products through its network. This venture seeks to increase public access to a range of non-life insurance products especially for the rural areas and weaker sections of society. The products include policies for hospitalization, personal accident, household goods, private vehicles, shops, cattle, pump-sets and poultry. The pilot project has been launched in selected districts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The pilot project would be up scaled to cover the entire country during the current financial year.
Postal Life Insurance (PLI), introduced in 1884, is the oldest life insurance scheme for benefit of the Government employees. In a major move, Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) scheme was introduced in 1995 for the benefit of the rural populace. PLI has 2.09 million policies with an aggregated sum assured Rs 136.76 whereas RPLI has 1.79 million policies with aggregated assured sum of Rs74.64 billion, as on March 31, 2003.
With the adoption of newer technology and modernization, India Post endeavours to improve efficiency and reach out to the public in a more effective manner and fulfill its objectives of providing value-added services in all parts of the country.
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