India Post seeks high growth in Gulf
ABU DHABI, Dec. 25. INDIA Post will focus on high growth areas like the parcels business and express mail services between India and the Gulf states and plans to shortly introduce its new money transfer service in the UAE, according to Mr B.N. Som, Director-General of India Post.
Mr. Som, who signed a bilateral agreement with Emirates Post in Dubai on Monday, told Business Line that a team from India Post will visit the UAE next month to introduce the money transfer service concept.
“The scheme was introduced in India five months back following a tie-up with Western Union and is growing at a fast pace to the tune of $1 million a month.
Our aim is to provide this service at a reasonable price with the stress on reliability and safety,” he said. He pointed out that bank drafts were currently being routed through private channels that are not as reliable as they should be.
Referring to the bilateral agreement signed with Emirates Post, Mr Som said that the move would help to increase volumes from the UAE and the other Gulf states. “The agreement envisages a mutual arrangement whereby the UAE will serve as the hub for all mails from India to all the Gulf states as well as Iran, while India will be the hub for all mails from the UAE to the countries in the sub-continent. The details are being worked out and the agreement will become operational soon,” he said. The accord follows discussions with Mr Abdullah al Daboos, Director-General of Emirates Post, when he visited India in July.
Mr Som also met Mr Ahmed Humaid al Tayer, UAE Minster of Communications and Chairman of Emirates Post, during his current visit.
The focus of the agreement will be on the parcels business and setting up of an express post international service between India and the UAE, as well as training of UAE postal personnel in India’s postal IT labs, which provide training to postal officials from all over the world, he said.
A high-level team from the UAE will be visiting India next month to work out details for training of their postal personnel in IT, an area where India is well covered with regard to postal services, Mr Som said.
Tie-ups with other Gulf states will also be looked at in the future. “The Gulf states are among the first three overseas markets for India Post, along with the UK and the USA. Our aim is to develop growth of business through accent on quality service and reliability,” he said.
India Post is meanwhile planning to launch some new services early next year, Mr Som said. A logistics service will be launched next month in collaboration with public service undertakings for cargo services, that will provide secure transmission of goods both within India and abroad, he said.
It could be of significance, particularly in areas like the gems and jewellery business, he added.
Plans are also on to introduce a ‘track and trace’ system from January 1 for speed post that will enable customers to personally trace their mail and make the service accountable to the clients, he said. Mr Som agreed that e-mail had dented the domestic/household personal mail service in the country to some extent, but this was balanced out by a visible growth in corporate mail. “Volumes are increasing and we are growing at an annual rate of two per cent,” he said. Copyright 2001 Kasturi & Sons Ltd (KSL). Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark) – Asia Intelligence Wire.
