Tag: India Post

Consultative committee takes stock of rural postal network in India

Posted by | Mar 14, 2008 | |

Of the 155,204 post offices in the country, 139,046 post offices are functioning in rural areas with an average coverage of 22.61 sq.km per rural post office.

This was disclosed by minister of state of communication and information technology Dr. Shakeel Ahmed during the review meeting of the consultative committee of the parliament attached to his ministry.

“Since Independence, the Department of Posts has expanded its network by over 664 per cent, becoming the largest postal network in the world” Dr Ahmad told the members of parliament.

He further added that 3,000 new branch post offices are to be opened in 11th Plan, of which 2000 would be departmental post offices and some of these would be in the rural areas.

Highlighting the details of the expansion, he said office equipments would be provided to 10,000 rural branch offices while 50,000 pillar letterboxes would be installed in villages with branch post offices.

In the current Five Year Plan, all departmental post offices and 64,000 extra departmental post offices would be computerised and connected to the National Data Centre. He said that the department has been mobilising savings from rural areas for Small Savings Bank and National Savings Certificates, disbursing pensions, undertaking verification of electoral rolls, etc, as part of its agency and retail functions.

Members cutting across party lines stressed the need for enhancing the postal network in rural areas, especially in North-Eastern States.

Senior officials of the ministry of communications and IT, and officials also attended the meeting from MTNL and BSNL.

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Expansion of postal network in India

Posted by | Mar 10, 2008 | |

The Franchisee Scheme which entails setting up of Franchisee Outlets of postal network is already in existence. The Franchisee Scheme was launched in February 2007 in select urban areas for providing increased access to postal counter services in areas where opening of a Post Office was not possible as per prescribed norms. The scheme has now been extended to cover areas of new upcoming urban townships, special economic zones, major highway projects, upcoming new industrial centres, colleges, etc. The opening of Franchisee Outlets is in addition to opening of Post Offices wherever justified.

Unemployed youth are not debarred from working as Franchisees of the Department. The applicant in this regard should fulfill the criteria for selection, such as minimum age requirement, educational qualification, etc. Criteria for selection of Franchisees are in view of the need to select persons with capacity to manage and market a range of products, along with a sense of the community needs and public aspects of the job and willingness to accept technological options. The preference is given to postal pensioners and those able to provide computers.

More can be also found online at http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36147

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India Post plans global tie-ups to take on MNCs

Posted by | Feb 29, 2008 | |

India Post is all set to enter into a series of global partnerships to compete with international money services companies such as Western Union and global courier companies like FedEx. The postal department is in talks with its counterparts in the US, Switzerland, France, and Oman, among others, as it plans to tap the expertise of these countries in specialised financial services and replicate such offerings in India.

The logic: With nearly 82,000 post offices being computerised, the strong IT base will enable India Post to offer several value-added services in addition to full-fledged banking services. Partnerships with global majors will enable India Post to launch these value-added and modern ICT-based services.

Besides, with millions of expatriate workers of Indian origin in several countries sending huge remittances back home, the postal department is also going all out to tap this segment. More so, considering that India Post has the largest possible network of 70,000 branches in rural India alone.

For instance, India Post has already tied up with the postal service department of the UAE for speedy transfer of money orders between the two countries. While this facility is currently available only to a few sourthern states, it will soon be extended to all states in a phased manner.

The process to get into global partnerships was set rolling last year. In November 2007, India Post signed an MoU with Deutsche Post where both organisations agreed to create a multi-layer relationship. The MoU envisaged partnerships in the field of conveyance and distribution of mails, logistic and warehousing operations and financial services.

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La Poste's plans to enter Indian market blocked

Posted by | Feb 8, 2008 | |

La Poste’s plans to enter the Indian market have run into a roadblock due to opposition from the postal department. GeoPost Group, the express parcel arm of La Poste, plans to tap the Indian market through a joint venture with Continental Air Express.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has put the joint venture proposal on hold due to objections from the department of posts. The postal department’s opposition adds yet another twist to the moves to restrict foreign ownership in this segment.

Apart from France, GeoPost has business interests in the express parcel and logistics segment in various countries including the UK, Germany, Russia, Spain, Poland, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

In Asia, the La Poste arm has business interests in China and South Korea. GeoPost’s was to take 60 pct stake in the proposed subsidiary while Continental Air Express was to hold the rest.

During recent deliberations at the FIPB, the department of post argued that La Poste is also a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and is required to fulfill universal services obligations (USO) like India Post. Therefore, La Poste cannot poach on the creamy territory of the other, FIPB was informed.

The department has also pointed out that La Poste was a state-owned entity and investment by no such entity has been permitted in India so far. India Post, also a member of UPU, handles low-priced items like post cards and inland letters to fulfill its social obligations. GeoPost, on the other hand, plans to enter courier services like express parcel delivery which command a premium.

The postal department’s argument is that La Poste should also be ready to fulfill social obligations like the USO carried out by India Post. In any case, the department has been threatening to make small letters the monopoly of India Post and impose restrictions on foreign ownership in this sector.

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India Post fights to retain marketshare in small savings

Posted by | Feb 2, 2008 | |

minimum of seven lakh small accounts during the April-October 2007 period to commercial banks.

This has been primarily due to the postal department’s inability to offer market-related interest rates and the withdrawal of 10pct bonus on monthly income scheme (MIS).
This declining trend is, however, expected to change now.

The government has reintroduced the bonus on MIS from December 2007, albeit at a lower 5pct rate, and is going to make the five-year postal term deposits and senior citizen savings scheme eligible for tax rebate under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act from April 2008.

Small post office savings schemes include MIS (at 8pct interest rate), term deposits and recurring deposits (7.5pct interest), senior citizen savings scheme (9pct interest) and savings bank account (3.5pct interest).

Till November 2007, the fall in number of accounts is significant, especially in MIS and senior citizen savings scheme. MIS collection received the first blow in February 2006 when the government withdrew the 10pct bonus on maturity.

The postal term deposits and senior citizen savings had also failed to compete with commercial banks during the period under review as banks were offering significantly higher interest rate on deposits. For instance, the State Bank of India (SBI) was offering a 9.5pct annual rate for 4-5 years deposits while the postal term deposits offer just about 7.5pct per annum.

According to latest available statistics as of October 2007, the number of live savings accounts with the postal department’s West Bengal circle stood at 1.78 crore. This is compared to 1.85 crore live accounts as of March 31, 2007.

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