Tag: India

Airtel, Western Union offer mobile money transfer service

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

Indian workers in other countries will soon be able to send money, less than $100, to their family back home using a mobile phone.

Bharti Airtel and Western Union have decided to jointly develop and pilot a mobile money transfer service in the country. The move is part of a global initiative by the GSM Association wherein 35 mobile operators spread across 100 countries have taken a commitment to enable the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents.

Here’s how it works. If an Indian working in Dubai wants to send money that’s sub USD 100 to his family in Kerala, he has to punch in the exact amount to be sent on an application on his mobile handset. The application will be provided by the mobile operator when the sender registers himself for the service.

The message is delivered through the mobile operator’s network to his local bank from where the amount is transferred to Western Union. A 16-digit identification number is generated by Western Union and delivered (either through email or SMS) to the person who sent the money in Dubai.

The sender then has to give the 16-digit number to his family in India. His family has to punch in the identification number on their Airtel mobile through a special application which can be easily downloaded on their handset.

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UPS sees fast-growing Asia unaffected by softer U.S.

Posted by | Nov 29, 2007 | |

Packaging delivery company United Parcel Service Inc expects regional growth in Asia will remain robust and be unaffected by a slowing U.S. economy, a senior company official said on Thursday.

UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, has said growth this peak season would be below the previous four years, reflecting slowing U.S. economic growth, the housing sector slowdown and expectations of low retail sales growth.

But rising trade within the Asia-Pacific region was boosting demand for freight and logistics services in countries including China, India, Vietnam and Thailand, said Ken Torok, president of Asia-Pacific region for UPS.

“Asia-Pacific is our fastest growing region, as the momentum in the services sector and infrastructure development continues,” he said at a conference to launch a strategic alliance with local logistics firm AFL Pvt Ltd.

“And in the region, intra-Asia trade is the fastest growing and leading segment,” he said.

The UPS annual Asia Business Monitor for 2007 showed intra-Asia trade accounted for the most volume growth from small and medium enterprises. Also, trade with the Middle East overtook Europe and the United States for Asian firms.

“Growth within the region is so strong, that what happens in the U.S. market will not have as big an impact on Asia as it did some years ago,” Torok said.

For UPS, business in Asia grew by more than 20 percent in the third quarter, while China and India grew by more than 25 percent, Torok said.

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Postal network can be used for other services

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

India’s vast postal network can be utilised for providing various facilities including microfinance, banking and information-based services to the masses. The Department of Posts also needs to gear itself to strengthen its global network to meet challenges posed by its competitors, said Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja.

Delivering his inaugural speech at the five-day executive council meeting of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU), Mr. Raja said over 150,000 post offices spread across India can use newer technologies for providing microfinance services, set up e-knowledge centres and extend banking facilities, specially in rural areas.

Stressing the need for transforming the postal services to meet future challenges and prepare them to compete in the new environment of globalisation, Mr. Raja said the need of the hour was that the managers should learn and develop strategies to adapt the postal services to the changed situation. “The postal workforce will need to become skilled and well informed. Human resource development will become the key to the success of India Postal managers will need to innovate, encourage participation and lead change,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Shakeel Ahmad said the postal network in the Asia Pacific region comprises 342,002 permanent post offices, which is 51 per cent of the total number of post offices worldwide.

However, it is manned by 1,715,000 postal employees, which is 31 per cent of the worldwide postal staff.

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Postal network in India must use technology for new services

Posted by | Nov 27, 2007 | |

The country’s vast postal network can use new technologies for providing microfinance services, set up e-knowledge centres and extend banking facilities in rural areas, Communications Minister A Raja said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Executive Council Meeting of Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU), Raja said the transformation process in postal services was necessary to enable them to respond to change in the new environment of globalisation.

He emphasised on the need for managers to learn, search and scan environment to read changes and quickly develop strategies to adapt the post to the changed situation.

“The postal workforce will need to become skilled and well informed. Human resource development will become the key to the success of Post and managers will need to innovate, encourage participation and lead change,” he said.

Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Shakeel Ahmad said the postal network in Asia Pacific region comprises 342,000 permanent post offices. This accounts for 51 per cent of the total number of post offices worldwide, manned by 17.15 lakh employees.

The anomaly in the percentage of employees to the number of Post Offices needed to be changed, he added.

India Post is hosting the 30th Asian Pacific Postal Union, Executive Council (APPU-EC) Meeting from November 27 to December 1, 2007 here with an aim to exchange views and discuss matters of mutual interest so as to strengthen co-operation amongst postal administrations and postal service providers in the Asia-Pacific region.

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India: Modernisation of postal department

Posted by | Nov 26, 2007 | |

The Department of Posts has submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission for computerization of 17598 Departmental Post Offices and 64,000 Branch Post Offices and network all computerized offices; provide Automatic Mail Processing Centres; Provide Remotely managed Franking Machines and Cash Counting Machines and Provide anywhere anytime banking.

Following steps have been taken by the Department to enhance the revenue earning ability of the organization: Business Development and Marketing Directorate has been set up in the Department of Posts. It aims at developing new products and services and aims to make Department of Posts a customer oriented organization with business approach; A number of business products like Speed Post, Express Parcel Post and Business Post have been introduced; Value additions like collection from customer premises, credit facility, volume based discounts, door to door delivery, online track and trace system, pre-mailing services etc. have been introduced; Retail network of the Department of Post has been leveraged for providing new services and generating additional revenue and The department has taken initiatives to work out various business alliances and partnership with public and private corporations for leveraging the postal network in rural as well as urban areas.

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