India to improve mail quality with next-generation sorting centres
India’s communications minister Sh Kapil Sibal dedicated a new Automated Mail Processing Centre (AMPC) in Delhi this morning.
Read MoreTag: Department of Post
Indian govt may act on illegal courier companies
The government is contemplating action against private courier companies for bringing international post in the country illegally and delivering them as domestic post, depriving the Department of Post of terminal dues. According to senior officials in the Department of Posts, the courier companies have been routing international posts illegally as domestic ones, creating a similar situation to one existing in telecom sector in the internal call segment. Although DoP officials declined to give any estimates of illegal posts entering the country, informed sources said it could run between Rs 10 billion (USD221 million) to Rs 15 billion.
Read MoreIndian express encounters postal delay
Global express and courier major TNT has pledged investment of Euro 100 million in India in the next five years. Blue Dart Express, in which DHL took a 68% stake in 2004, will induct two of the latest generation 757 aircraft into the Indian market in June taking its fleet size to 7. First Flight Couriers will also ramp up its fleet in June as part of a Rs 50 cr infusion. Even Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Capital recently acquired a 44% stake in the Rs 150 cr DTDC.
With such large investments in the pipeline, the Rs 4,000 cr express and courier industry is vociferous in its protest against a government move to yet again table the Indian Postal Act Amendment Bill which will allow the department of posts the authority to regulate the industry and also to reserve the business in the below 500 gms category for India Post only.
Courier turf war with India Post hotting up
While the ministry of communications and IT is busy changing the Indian Post Office Act to wrest an exclusive monopoly over letters that weigh up to 500 gms, the Rs 4,000-crore private courier industry has demanded privatisation of all postal services in the country. The industry has drafted a Position Paper on the Post Office (Amendment) Bill which it has marked to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Ministry of Communications and IT, with requests to reject the Bill’s unfavourable provisions. Amendments proposed by the government to the 108-year-old Post Office Act say that private couriers should pay Rs 10 lakh for registration and Rs 5 lakh for yearly registration renewal. Couriers with international activity are to pay Rs 10 lakh while domestic-only operators are to pay Rs 50,000 as per draft rules. The amendments also suggest a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for violations by private couriers, and seek to make senior management of courier companies responsible for wrongs committed by their employees.
Read MoreIndian govt plans to set up postal regulator
THE government is planning to set up mail regulatory and development authority (MRDA) for the postal and courier services. Currently, there is no authority to regulate the Rs 3,500-crore private courier industry. Department of Post (DoP) has proposed amendments in the Indian Post Office Act, 1898, to make provision for the regulator. MRDA will ensure that all the private courier service providers and mail services of the department of post comply with the terms and conditions of the registration. It will promote competition and efficiency in mail services. The department has proposed that MRDA should be a single person full time regulatory body. The regulator will be appointed by the government. The person appointed as MRDA shall hold office for a term not exceeding three years.
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