Tag: Asia

Decision on opening Indian Postal Bank to be taken soon

Posted by | Mar 24, 2008 | |

With the Indian postal services already offering deposit and savings schemes, the government is likely to soon float an Indian Postal Bank as the matter is awaiting approval of the finance ministry, Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communication and information technology, stated here today.

He said that the matter of opening the Indian Postal Bank was under consideration of the government and had been put before the finance ministry. “A final decision would soon be taken,” he said. It would help to extend banking services into many rural areas, he added.

The government would be spending Rs 6,000 crore for computerizing the whole postal network. “Despite a drop in mail services, the world’s largest postal service was still effectively serving 72 percent of the country’s population,” said Ahmad.

Looking to add other services, many post offices had started offering railway booking facilities in the country. Local tie-ups for making available low airline tickets through post offices was also being explored and had already been started in Karnataka state, the minister informed.

He said that as part of e-governance, the government was spending Rs 6,000 crore for setting up 1 lakh community service centres, one for each panchayat in the country by 2009.

Talking about expansions plans of BSNL, he said only recently tenders for additional 4.5 crore new lines had been floated. He added that 2G spectrum had been allotted and 3G spectrums would be soon handed out through an open auction system.

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Pakistan Post increases services’ commission

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

After hike in oil and power tariff, the state-run postal service ‘Pakistan Post’ has increased commission for its various services across the country to meet expenses and announced new rates to be affective from 18 March, it is learnt.

The new increased rates will effect twenty million customers, especially in rural areas of Pakistan where Pakistan Post is the only courier service.

The new charges of Fax Money Order for an amount of up to twenty-five thousand have been increased to Rs 150 from Rs 100. Pakistan Post has also fixed the FMO charges of Rs 300 for the delivery of more than Rs 25,000. The charges of urgent Money Order (local) would be Rs 65 while the city-to-city charges would be Rs 80. Similarly, the charges of normal Money Order have been fixed at Rs 55.

The new rate of local urgent mail service, up to the weight of half kilogram has been fixed at Rs 15 and the rate of urgent mail service city to city are fixed at Rs 30. Pakistan Post Office is one of the oldest government departments in the Sub-Continent. staff report

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Pos Malaysia earnings to improve starting 2009

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

Pos Malaysia Bhd, whose share price continues to languish, is expected to register better earnings and growth beginning 2009 following its modernisation plans and the unfolding of Transmile Group Bhd’s turnaround.

The company’s share price has fallen by 33.06% since Jan 2, achieving a high of RM2.52 on Jan 11. On Wednesday, it closed at RM1.66, a three sen drop from Tuesday.

Analysts expected a stronger cash flow from Pos Malaysia following the completion of its RM200 million new mail processing centre in Shah Alam, part of the company’s modernisation plan. The centre is targeted to be operational by the first quarter of 2009.

“Going forward, we expect to see a strong cash flow from Pos Malaysia in 2009, which should register a free cash flow of over 10% during the year,” said Teoh Paul Keng, a senior analyst at HLG Research.

“Under the modernisation plan, the building in Shah Alam is to increase the automation level from 25% to 70%. They have about 3,000 staff in their existing processing centre, the new centre could reduce their manpower by more than 1,000 staff and this could earn them annual cost savings of about RM20 million,” he added.

Teoh expected Pos Malaysia’s cash flow to be more modest this year due to the capital expenditure incurred by the company in the new facility.

He said Pos Malaysia remained an attractive option for investors. “It is still a good time to invest in Pos Malaysia. At present, it is a domestic consumption play, it is also one of the most defensive plays.” HLG Research also has a buy on Pos Malaysia at RM2.50.

Teoh also said its earnings growth would most likely be flat due to the imbalance between the mail growth volume and postal tariff rates. “The mail growth volume goes up an average 3% to 5% every year, but there hasn’t been a hike in postal tariffs.”

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TNT progresses towards full integration of Speedage

Posted by | Mar 18, 2008 | |

TNT announces the successful integration of its Indian road express division, TNT Speedage, into TNT’s global information technology system, called Global Link. As a result, customers using TNT’s domestic road infrastructure in India can now benefit from a 24-hour real-time track and trace facility of their shipments. The IT upgrade is a major step towards the transformation of Speedage into a full-fledged express delivery services business completely integrated in TNT’s global network.

TNT now offers a common IT network for all its branches in India, including 168 Speedage offices. TNT has invested approximately euro 4 million (INR 18 Crores) in hardware and IT network to achieve a complete Internet and computer sharing during the IT integration process. All 168 Speedage locations are connected to TNT’s Bangalore data centre, using MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching Architecture), IVPN and dial up networks. This launch makes TNT India the first multinational express services company to provide a single platform to track any consignment shipped through TNT – be it international or domestic, air or road.

Global Link is backed by PC-based Customer Interface Technology (CIT) tools that enable customers to book consignments online, view consignment status and history, and access proof of delivery. TNT offers a secure online environment, which protects customers’ confidential shipping information.

In India, TNT’s IT Data center is located at ITPL Bangalore. TNT’s full-fledged global IT hub is in Atherstone, UK. It houses a 24- hour real time online Track and Trace system, which is linked worldwide and is continuously updated, second to second.

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Blue Dart to replace Boeing 737 with 757

Posted by | Mar 17, 2008 | |

Move will help the company increase its carrying capacity without increasing fleet size.

The Chennai-based air cargo company, Blue Dart Aviation, has decided to replace all its four ageing Boeing 737 cargo aircrafts with the Boeing 757. The move is primarily aimed at augmenting carrying capacity without increasing the current fleet size of seven.

Last year, the company inducted a 757 freight carrier, which was its seventh from DHL Expresses’ European Air Transport. DHL Express holds 81 per cent stake in Blue Dart.

Tushar Jani, chairman, Blue Dart Aviation, said, “We cannot increase our fleet size because of lack of parking space at airports and hence will replace the Boeing 737 with Boeing 757.”

The company intends to have a mix of leased and owned 757-200 SF (special freighters). At present, the cost of a Boeing 757-200 SF (special freighters) is about USD 80-85 million.
The replacement of aircrafts will help the company increase its carrying capacity by 32 per cent from 148 tonnes to 196 tonnes by the end of 2011.
The replacement initiative comes at a time when the company is optimistic about starting scheduled overseas operations, perhaps this year.

Company executives said the move would help improving aircraft utilisation due to increased flying hours. The company currently is evaluating commercial viability of flying to overseas destinations.

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