Tag: India

India: Postal dept gets capitalist mail

Posted by | Nov 13, 2006 | |

It was one department which withstood privatisation in the public sector for years. But now, the Government is planning to experiment with the franchisee system in the postal services.

About 100 licenses are being given out to private players willing to run post offices in the country.

“The Bill to amend the Postal Act will come in the winter session,” says Minister of State, Communications, Dr Shakeel Ahmed.

The franchisees will provide all the counter services including speed posts and money orders. They will also be allowed to execute a number of banking services done across the counter in post offices like cheque collection, delivery (for the moment) and transmission facilities will be carried out only by the postal department.

So while the Government wants to review this scheme after six months, trade unions say this could mark the entry of private players in the oldest service provider in the country.

“It certainly is moving towards privatisation,” says Secretary General, National Federation of Postal Employees, C C Pillai.

However, despite these objections the Government has asked its 19 postal circles to identify suitable locations. Initially big cities and towns are being considered and the scheme could start from the early next year.

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Indian postal service, Western Union to expand joint operation

Posted by | Nov 10, 2006 | |

Indian Postal Services and the Western Union plan to expand their joint operations aiming at a bigger slice of the hundreds of thousands dollars that are transferred by Indian diaspora to their loved ones every year.

The two had entered into agreement in 2001 to provide Western Union branded money transfer service to consumers via 900 post offices across the country but since then the services have vastly expanded and now 8,500 post offices serve Western Union customers.

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Reinventing India Post

Posted by | Nov 8, 2006 | |

In September this year, when Punjab chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s helicopter crash-landed in a remote corner of Gurdaspur district, Punjab, Singh managed to escape with minor injuries but help also arrived in an unexpected form-India Post. Singh may have been whisked away by car but his chopper was grounded completely as its rotor blades and other essential parts were damaged beyond repair. Enter India’s 150-year-old postal network. Two trucks from India Post arrived within 72 hours with more than 7 tonnes of essential components; soon the Pawan Hans chopper was repaired and it took to the skies.

Those who associate India Post with the image of a khaki-clad postman with a bag flung on his shoulder traversing the bylanes of bustling cities or walking through paddy-fields in far-flung villages are in for a pleasant surprise. In fact, the friendly neighbourhood postman is today many more things than just the man who stuffs envelopes and post-cards into your letter box. Soon he could be selling you insurance policies or mutual funds or even fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or just sitting you down and doing a market survey for a big corporate giant. Meanwhile, his organisation, India Post, could have metamorphosed from a deliverer of letters and parcels to a full-blown logistics management company that handles supply-chain needs of big business.

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DHL Express (India) to expand capacity by 50% in 2 years

Posted by | Nov 7, 2006 | |

The Ministry of communications’ proposal to bring down FDI in courier services to 49% from 100% does not seem to be having much impact on foreign companies in the sector. DHL Express, the leading courier and logistics company in India, plans to expand its capacity by more than 50% in the next 2-3 years.
In the last 3-4 years, the company has invested around USD 250 million in India. Craig Grossgart, country manager, DHL Express India, told ET, “We don’t think there’s much need to panic. The proposal has been discussed in various quarters and we are confident that the interest of the industry will be taken care of. As of now, we are all set to go ahead with our expansion plans.”
In the next 3 months, the company is looking at adding a fresh 19 outlets to its existing retail network of 55 outlets, spread in 12 cities. The new outlets will be set up in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

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Postal dept's FDI move fails to deter foreign investors

Posted by | Nov 6, 2006 | |

The postal department’s proposal to cap foreign direct investment (FDI) in courier services and make small parcels and letters the monopoly of India Post has failed to deter the interest of foreign investors in this booming sector.

While the Overseas Courier Services Company of Japan has firmed up plans to invest here, existing foreign players like Fedex and DHL are also pumping in additional investments.

Overseas Courier Services of Japan recently won the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) nod to invest in the country on condition that the clearance would be subject to government’s policy decisions on the sector.

Fedex is now pumping USD30m more through an acquisition to beef up its business here while DHL is planning significant investments in the next couple of years. It is expected that other international players would also take interest since the current signal from the government is that there is no going back on liberalising this sector. Confusion had arisen over FDI in courier services after the postal department proposed that foreign investment ceiling in the sector should be brought down to 49% from the existing level of 100%.

Citing India Post’s universal service obligation (USO), the postal department had called for an amendment to the Indian Post Office Act to give exclusive rights to the government-owned service for carriage and delivery of letters all across India.

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