സ്ത്രീകള്‍ എങ്ങിനെ വസ്ത്രം ധരിക്കണം എന്ന് പുരുഷന്‍ നിഷ്ക്കര്‍ഷിക്കുന്നത് ശരിയോ? അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ തിരിച്ചും?

Showing posts with label DOP News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DOP News. Show all posts

Sunday, January 10, 2016

India Post to Issue Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners



India Post is getting ready to issue Digital Life Certificate to pensioners. This facility can be availed from selected Post Offices across the country. These Post Offices are already supplied with fingerprint scanner for Aadhaar authentication. 


Digital life Certificate for Pensioners, the scheme of the Government of India known as Jeevan Pramaan is a biometric enabled digital service for pensioners. Pensioners of Central Government, State Government or any other Government organization can take benefit of this facility.

Saturday, July 04, 2015

Digital touch to India Post (Special article on Digital India Week)




Bruhaspati Samal
Postmaster, Ashoknagar MDG &
Secretary, AIPEU, Gr-C, Bhubaneswar

“It makes the Post Office what under any other system it never can be the unrestricted means of diffusing knowledge, extending commerce and promoting in every way the social and intellectual improvement of the people” stated Lord Dalhousie, the father of India Post in his Minute dated 30th December, 1851. To prove this statement, honestly, if one searches about an organization which serves India, the land of heterogeneous racial, lingual, religious, and social culture upholding its rich cultural heritage through religious pluralism protecting the national unity, social cohesion, secular and federal structure and democratic ethos, certainly, the name of India Post comes to mind. Competently assisting the rulers, elite and mercantile community in its various forms in ancient and medieval times, it has conveniently served both the British rulers and general public in modern times as a forceful organization in raising national and political consciousness. Long before the times of email and mobile phones, pigeons, barefoot runners and bullock carts were used to carry messages from one part of India to another. Prior to independence, India Post, through a limited work force could be able to develop a vast network of communication even before the Railways and Telephones were introduced with wide spread impact on the socio-economic life of the nation through efficient and prompt service.
From pigeon to post, India Post has travelled a long way with the passage of time. From 23,344 post offices primarily opened in urban areas prior to independence catering to the needs of Britishers for development of their trade and exercising control over their vast Indian possessions with one post office serving 15038 persons covering an area of 53 square miles to 1,54,882 post offices (139182 i.e. 89.86% in rural area and 15700 i.e. 10.14% in urban area ) having 459948 employees (200344 Departmental and 259604 Gramin Dak Sewak) as on 31.3.2014, India Post has registered nearly a seven fold growth during the period of last seven decades focusing its expansion to rural areas and thus has been acknowledged as the largest postal network in the world with one post office serving 8221 people in average covering an area of approximately 21.2 sq. kms and providing postal facilities within reach of every citizen in the country at affordable prices adopting every mode of transmission from bare foot to air route with recorded delivery of 1,575 crore mails approximately every year.
The beginnings of this vast postal network can be traced back to 1727 when the first post office was set up in Kolkata. Subsequently, General Post Offices (GPOs) were also set up in the then three Presidencies of Kolkata (1774), Chennai (1786) and Mumbai (1793). To bring some uniformity amongst the then post offices, the Indian Post Office Act of 1837 was enacted. This Act was followed by the more comprehensive Indian Post Office Act of 1854. This Act reformed the entire fabric of the postal system. Its provisions granted the monopoly of carrying mail in the British territories in India to the Indian Post Office. The present postal system in India thus came into existence with the Indian Post Office Act of 1854. The same year, the Railway Mail Service was introduced as also the sea mail service from India to Great Britain & China. Thereafter, the India Post Office Act of 1898 was passed which regulated postal services in the country. In 1852, the first ever adhesive postage stamps in Asia were issued in Scinde; these stamps subsequently became famous as the Scinde Dawks. These stamps were in circulation up to June 1866. On 18th February, 1911, the world’s first airmail flight - from Allahabad to Naini - took place. It traversed a distance of 18 kilometers (approx.) across the river Ganges. The first postage stamp valid across the country was issued on 1st October, 1854 which provided an affordable and uniform rate of postage based on weight. Since then, the Department of Posts has proved to be one of the greatest institutions of the country which plays an important role in the socio-economic activity of the nation. The postal network of India touches the remotest corners of the country.
Briefing the Department’s long journey from pigeon post to e-post, it is evident that the Department of Posts actively entered into the digital era through counter mechanization installing 102 personal computer-based MPCMs in 22 selected post offices during the year 1990 – 91 and conceived the Project Arrow concept in April, 2008 under “Look & Feel Good” concept. The Government of India has approved the Department of Posts’ IT Modernization Project, 2012 with a total outlay of Rs.4909 crore in November, 2012. The IT Modernization Project aims at modernization and computerization of all post offices in the country including 129389 Branch Post Offices in rural areas. It is an ambitious IT transformation project undertaken by the Department of Posts. By setting up an IT infrastructure spanning across all Post Offices and Branch Post Offices in rural areas, the Department will be able to harness the benefits of consolidated information and capabilities across various functional silos as well as geographical reach. The transformation from physical to digital network will provide a national asset for all users apart from Post Offices including various Government Departments, business houses and citizens to use the IT enabled country wide network for communication, banking, insurance and service delivery needs. This mega IT driven transformation is the first of its kind undertaken by any postal operator in the world as well as any Government Department in the country. Upon completion of this project, the Department of Posts shall emerge as an engine to transform the rural economic landscape in the country besides providing value-added mail and financial services to the urban customers.
The transformation from physical to digital network will enable the Government to use the postal network for communication, banking, insurance, mails and service delivery needs of the citizens. The IT Modernization Project, particularly the rural ICT solutions will rebuild the rural postal network to create an institutional last mile infrastructure for delivery of all government services to citizens. The project will make the post office the focal point of delivery of social security and employment guarantee schemes including disbursement of wages under MGNREGS Schemes of theCentre and State under Direct Benefit Transfer, will provide biometric authentication of financialtransactions ,provide multiple channels like ATM, mobile banking, net-banking for savings bank customer. It will provide an electronic and secure mode of money transfer particularly in rural areas. The Core Banking Solution (CBS) Project will bring facilities of ATM Banking, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and Phone Banking to the Post Offices Savings Bank (POSB) customers to perform transactions 24×7 in ATMs and to transfer money from their account to any bank account through National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS). Out of 25493 departmental post offices , India Post has already launched Core Banking Solution in 2590 post offices as on 30.06.2015.
Digital India Programme is a flagship programme of Government of India launched in 2014 with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The thrust of the Digital India Programme is the Digital Empowerment of Citizen of India. In Digital India Programme, Department of Posts has been entrusted to shape up the post offices into a multi service centre. The Department is digitizing all its 154882 Post Offices including 129389 Gramin Dak Sewak Post Offices. The digitized post office may work as multi service centre. It may become the nodal centre for the dissemination of information vis-à-vis Government Policies; disbursement of social security benefits; financial inclusion of rural mass. These post offices will offer a digital means of communication, carrying physical goods and money transfers.
The Post is poised to play an important role in the society bridging the urban rural divide and bringing IT-enabled services to all sections of the society through 154882 IT-enabled post offices. The reduction of paper-based processing would enable an environmentally sustainable greener Post Office.


(Data Source : indiapost.gov.in)

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Why India Post could become e-commerce’s most potent delivery partner


 | June 26, 2015

India Post and e-commerce

Sharadamani Amma, an 87-year-old great grandmother, remembers a time when the sight of mail runners would cause a great deal of excitement in the small Kerala village she grew up in. The appearance of these postal employees, who carried mail between post offices on foot, meant a letter or money order or, god forbid, a telegram—a sure sign of ill news.

But those days are long gone. The postmen are no longer held in high regard in most of the country, and few in the current generation would have even stepped into a post office, at least in urban India.

New age e-commerce companies want to change this. The likes of Amazon and Snapdeal already have pilot projects running with India Post, while newspaper reports suggest that Flipkart is set to follow suit.

But what makes India Post, seen by many as a relic of a bygone era, so attractive to these online portals?

UNBEATABLE NETWORK

India Post’s network of post offices in India is incomparable. None of the private courier or logistics firms can even come close say experts and e-commerce firms. “India Post has an unmatched network that is critical for the growth of e-commerce in India,” says Ashish Chitravanshi, Vice President of operations at Snapdeal. A view echoed by Amazon.in. “Through India Post’s extensive network, Amazon India is able to service over 19,000 pin-codes through 140,000 post-offices across all 35 states and union territories in India,” says Samuel Thomas, Director of transportation at Amazon India.

This network covers about 25,000 pin codes, while even large private courier companies like DTDC reach only about 10,000.

The scale of India’s Postal Network

RURAL DEPTH

While the pan India network is impressive, it is India Post’s rural depth that gives it an edge. “No one can reach rural areas like India Post,” says Manish Saigal, Managing Director of advisory services firm Alvarez & Marsal India. Manish says India Post’s importance will only increase when non-metro India’s contribution to e-commerce sales surpasses that of metro India. “The top 20 cities contribute 60% in value terms right now. The pendulum will shift the other way pretty soon,” adds Manish.

The pendulum has already swung the other way for some e-tailers. Over 70% of orders for Snapdeal are from smaller cities and towns, according to Snapdeal’s VP-Operations Ashish. “The growing popularity of online shopping in these non-metro centers presents a unique set of logistical challenges like spread out population, high km/delivery factor and high cost of setting up delivery infrastructure,” explains Ashish.
India-Post’s-North-East-Network

did-you-know

ADVANTAGE INDIA POST

It is not just the e-commerce companies that stand to gain from a partnership with India Post. The revenue potential for India Post is quite high.

The central government agency is already handling over 1.5 lakh e-commerce deliveries a day, according to industry estimates, making India Post one of the largest delivery partners for the industry. The Business Development and Marketing Directorate of India Post, which handles delivery of parcels like those of e-commerce companies, earned revenue of Rs 1961.76 crore between April and December last year.

“A lot of people dismiss India Post but they are doing mind-boggling work on the ground for e-commerce already,” says Manish.

An advertisement put out by India Post showed the department has handled Rs 500 crore of cash-on-delivery (CoD) in the financial year 2014-15.
Revenue Earnings copy

cod
However, Alvarez & Marsal’s Manish says India Post needs to do more in terms of technology adoption. This is especially important for CoD. India Post does have years of experience handling and delivering cash, in the form of money orders. However, CoD unlike money order requires postmen and women to collect cash and not hand over cash. E-commerce companies also expect this cash to be remitted into their accounts daily and further expect transparent and instant system updates.

This technology integration between India Post and e-commerce companies is beginning to happen.“We have integrated Amazon and Postal systems to electronically enable information sharing,” says Amazon India’s Samuel.

There are examples globally of national postal departments taking advantage of the growth of online retail. Ankur Bisen, senior Vice President at retail advisory firm Technopak, cites the examples of Deutsche Post (Germany) and Royal Mail (UK). “Both these companies were state sponsored mail carriers and realised the diminishing importance of postage. Both of them have successfully re-modelled themselves to suit the emerging e-commerce needs,” says Ankur. An AFP report in March stated that Deutsche Post’s e-commerce parcel division saw its revenues rise by 2.6% to reach 15.7 billion euros (Rs 1.11 lakh crore) in FY 2014.

“If they can marry India Post’s local knowledge and network with technology, they can become unbeatable. But they need to do this fast,” says Manish.

If this succeeds, then Sharadamani Amma’s great granddaughter Mythili will also soon wait with bated breath for the postman to call at her Bengaluru flat.

(Sources of  data and information shown in graphics: India Post annual report, India Post advertisement, Amazon India, DTDC website, news reports)

Courtesy :  http://yourstory.com/2015/06/india-post-ecommerce/

Public asked not to give tip to Postal employees


CHENNAI: The postmaster general of Chennai city region has appealed to the public not to pay cash to postal employees as a tip for receiving services from the department. 
This practice is reportedly common among senior citizens when they receive their old age pension money orders. 
"Please refrain from paying baksheesh. If postal department employees adopt a practice of deducting some money and then paying you, do not accept," said a release issued by postmaster General (Chennai City region) Mervin Alexander. 
  
Source:-The Times of India

Thursday, June 25, 2015

punctuality in Government Offices

Observance of punctuality in Government Offices - Dopt orders on 22.6.2015
G.I., Dept. of Per.& Trg., O.M.No.11013/9/2014-Estt.A-III, dated 22.6.2015
Subject: Observance of punctuality in Government Offices.
Instructions have been issued from time to time with regard to the need to observe punctuality by Government servants. Responsibility for ensuring punctuality in respect of their employees rests within Ministries/ Departments/ Offices.

2. The decision to introduce AADHAR enabled Bio-metric Attendance System (AEBAS) in Central Government offices, including attached/ sub-ordinate offices, to replace the manual system of marking of attendance to ensure punctuality is to be implemented in all Ministries/ Departments. This Department vide O.M. of even no. dated 21.11.2014 and 28.01.2015, while recognizing that the Biometric Attendance System is only an enabling platform had, inter-alia, stated that there was no change in the instructions relating to office hours, late attendance etc.
3. In this connection attention is invited to Rule 3(1)(ii) of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 which stipulates that every Government servant shall at all times maintain devotion to duty. Habitual late attendance is viewed as conduct unbecoming of a Government servant and disciplinary action may be taken against such a Government servant. It is also added that punctuality in attendance is to be observed by Government servants at all levels.
4. It is also requested that the necessary directions may be issued to all employees to mark their attendance in BAS portal on regular basis.
Source : www.persmin.gov.in
According to New Recruitment Rules, Selection for the Post of PA/SA will be through S.S.C

Saturday, June 20, 2015

India Post readies for more tie-ups with e-commerce firms


For India Post, the new-age business is going to be a key revenue driver with phenomenal rise in daily mailing volumes as it is increasingly looking at associations with entities such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and YEP.
MUMBAI: When did you last remember a postman knocking at you door? Even though it's hard to recall such an incident, your friendly neighbourhood postman may now appear at your doorstep more often, delivering a book or a gadget bought on an e-commerce portal.

The department of posts now delivers more than two lakh e-commerce parcels daily, double of what it used to a year ago, according to a national estimate.

"E-commerce fulfillment (shipping) is a big business opportunity for us," said Ashok Kumar Dash, chief postmaster general (Maharashtra Circle), India Post.

"Associations with e-commerce portals are likely to go up in the coming days, and the quality of delivery in farflung areas will be crucial." For India Post, the new-age business is going to be a key revenue driver with phenomenal rise in daily mailing volumes as it is increasingly looking at associations with entities such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and YEP, a move aimed at revenue generation for the 200-year old straggler.

For instance, in the Mumbai region of the Maharashtra circle, daily Amazon parcel deliveries have risen to about 7,000 a day at present from a mere 200 shipments in November, two people with the direct knowledge of the matter told ET.

Flipkart too has started shipments to its customers using the postal services. In the Mumbai region, it has been sending around 700-800 parcels daily since the past three months, said one of the persons in the know of things.

Two years ago, the e-commerce revenue was below Rs 200 crore, and it was estimated to be about Rs 400-500 crore in the year ending March 2015.

All-India revenue from e-commerce is expected to be Rs 900-1,000 crore in FY16 for India Post, according to PN Ranjit Kumar, postmaster general (Mumbai), India Post.

"Revenues are likely to rise in this segment," he said. Both, however, declined to share further details. The e-commerce sector in India has grown by 34% (CAGR) since 2009 to touch $16.4 billion in 2014, and is expected to be about $22 billion in 2015, according to a recent report by PwC. This in turn has triggered a growth in the logistics business.

India's logistics business is estimated at $100 billion, and India Post is hoping to cater to the growing demand in this sector, especially in tier-II and tier-III cities where the presence of private courier companies is limited. The postal department is trying to use its post office network of over 1.5 lakh branches.

One of the advantages the department is its huge land bank which is crucial for logistics business, according to a senior government official.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Speed post faster, more reliable than private couriers: CAG


Should we depend on private courier services? A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) study has found private couriers deliver only 90% of letters compared to 99% by speed post.

In major cities, the performance of speed post is faster and more reliable. The postal service delivers 99% of letters through speed post within 1-9 days as compared to 92% by private courier services that take up to 10 days.

At the local level, the delivery by speed post is 98% compared to 93% by courier services. While the time taken by speed post is 1-11 days at local level, it is 1-12 days in case of private couriers.

In a report on department of posts, tabled in Parliament recently, the official auditor has said the performance of speed post has been better not only at local level and in major cities, but it is the only reliable service at the tehsil and village level.

To compare the performance and quality of speed post with private courier agencies for delivery of mails, a test check was conducted by CAG in eight postal circles -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Checks were conducted by posting hundreds of letters.



At the tehsil level only speed post could reach 100% addressees that too within 1-7 days while private couriers could deliver only 83% letters and time ranged from 1-23 days.

"Based on the results, it could be concluded that the speed post service of the department of posts (DoP) was better than the services provided by the private couriers," the auditor said.

Speed post was introduced in 1986 to provide a faster and time-bound mail delivery service in major cities. However, due to late delivery of mails people had stopped relying on the department. But the auditor says the perception is wrong and speed post still remains most reliable and account for more than 10% of the total revenue of the DoP.


In the test check, the auditor had posted 284 letters by speed post and 287 by different private couriers. The performance was judged based on the number of letters sent, letters actually delivered, and time taken for delivery of test letters.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Speed-post-faster-more-reliable-than-private-couriers-CAG/articleshow/47349880.cms

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Soon, use any bank’s card at postal ATM


CHENNAI, April 24, 2015


Soon, Chennai residents can use postal ATMs to withdraw money not only from their postal savings account, but from any bank account.
This will be possible once the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) accepts the proposal to have postal Automated Teller Machines (ATM) interoperable where postal customers could use debit cards of other banks. Earlier this week, the Department of Posts opened two more ATMs at St. Thomas Mount and Mylapore post offices. The first postal ATM was opened in T. Nagar post office last year.
Anna Road head post office and Tambaram post office will also have ATM facilities . In three months, the department plans to expand its ATM services to over 17 post offices, including those in Park Town, Avadi and Ambattur.
Officials of the Postal Department said once the ATMs are operational for a few months, RBI is expected to approve the proposal to allow postal account holders to use debit cards of other banks as well and vice versa.
As of now, only 50 postal account holders have debit cards. “With more ATMs being added, we are speeding up the process to issue personalised debit cards. At present, customers can get insta cards that will allow them to use ATMs till they get their debit cards,” said Mervin Alexander, Postmaster General (Chennai city region).
It takes about 3-4 weeks to get a postal debit card. The department plans to distribute about 2,500 cards soon, particularly to pensioners. While applications are being accepted for obtaining debit cards, customers can immediately get insta cards to carry out transactions.
Nearly 31.22 lakh postal saving account holders of Chennai city region would be able to use postal debit cards in any of the post offices networked with core banking solutions. Customers could soon avoid visits to post offices to carry out savings account transactions as e-post office and mobile banking facility are on the anvil.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Money Order Service Continues with Addition of Online Money Transfer


Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology
                 The Department of Posts has denied some media reports that its Money Order service has been discontinued. The Money Order service continues to be available to the common man at the same service charge with the same facility of the money being delivered at the door step of the addressee. The Department in a clarification further said that this service had been made more reliable and fast by communicating information about the money to be transferred electronically between the booking and delivery post office. Thus, the money reaches faster to the addressee. The nature of service remains the same and it is also being called an electronic Money Order or eMO. 
Department of Posts also has another service offering instant online Money transfer service called as Instant Money Order (iMO), where the receiver can receive payment in cash through Post Office. 

Summary of Post Offices


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Discontinuation of Surface Mail to Oman Post


This is regarding discontinuation of Surface Mail to Oman. Oman Post has conveyed that due to closure of Sultan Qabobs Port, they would not be accepting Surface Mail from 01st January,2015 onward. In this regard, it is requested to kindly direct all post offices concerned to not book any Surface Mail for Oman from 1st January, 2015.

Click Here to view Directorate's Order.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Postal Department to offer more services


STARTS ‘MEE SEVA’ AND ‘SUNAYASAM UTILITY SERVICES’ IN WARANGAL DISTRICT
The Department of Posts has launched several services for the benefit of people across its head post offices in district such as ‘Mee Seva’ and ‘Sunayasam Utility Services’.
MeeSeva services
Superintendent of Post Offices, Hanamkonda division, G.V. Satayanarayana said the people could now avail all services such as securing birth, death, land certificates, pay municipal tax and others under the Mee Seva and avail services such as payment of power and telephone bills and recharge their mobile phones, pay examination fee, insurance premium and many more under Sunayasam Utility Services.
People can also have TTD special darshan tickets at all the five head post offices in Warangal district.
They could also make use of World Net Express services, which ensure delivery of letters and parcels to over 220 countries within four days with the help tracking facility.
“We are trying to sensitise people on services being offered by the Postal Department. Now the department has introduced many services such as railway reservation, offering of money to temples and Jesus Calls through the department and purchase of Penta mobile phones and many more,” Mr. Satyanarayana explained.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Secretary(Posts) met the IPoS probationers on 09.01.2015


      The Secretary Department of Posts, Ms Kavery Banerjee met the probationers of Indian Postal Service on the 9th January, 2015. The Secretary explained the way Postal Services are evolving and how we are transforming to make the Post offices socially relevant for ever. Her words of wisdom was a source of inspiration and the affection shown by her to the probationers was heart-warming. The probationers were a happy lot at the end of the meeting and stayed highly motivated! 




Monday, December 15, 2014

A post office in Kerala which 'delivers' mails to God


Sabarimala (Kerala): It is a unique post office, and one of its main tasks is to deliver letters to God. Located near the famed Hindu temple at the Sabarimala hills, the post office may perhaps be the only one in the country which does not work round the year. It comes alive when the peak pilgrimage season of the Ayyappa shrine begins on the first day of the Malayalam month in November, and the period ends towards the middle of January.

The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season. Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, have a lot to do. Prakash is happy to be here, and says he was a devotee of Lord Ayyappa.

"Our post office mostly gets invitation cards for weddings and shop openings addressed to Lord Ayyappa, obviously to seek divine blessings," Prakash said.

The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season. Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, have a lot to do.
Most such mails come from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, he said. But the three letter boxes kept in the temple complex get more than post cards and envelopes. Every morning, the staff find scores of identity cards and wallets too in them.

"We make it a point to mail these cards to the individuals concerned," Prakash said. The employees often spend their own money to do this. "Since this season began, I have posted close to 20 PAN cards to the income tax office."

Police say all this is the work of pickpockets who operate in the temple town -- crowded during the pilgrimage season. The criminals pocket the money from the wallets and dump the cards -- and wallets -- in the post boxes.

Situated in the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats at 914 metres above sea level, the Sabarimala temple is four kilometres uphill from Pamba in Pathanamthitta district, around 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The temple is accessible only on foot from Pamba. During the last pilgrimage season, more than 4.5 million devotees visited the shrine. This season the authorities expect a 10 percent increase.

A feature of the post office is the special pictorial cancellation stamp of the 18 steps that led to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. "Some devotees come and buy covers or cards and write their own address and post them here," said Prakash. "This is their souvenir."

The post office helps pilgrims to post 'appom' and 'aravana' (the temple prasad). It also sells mobile recharge coupons.

Of the six employees, three walk down the hill daily carrying the outgoing mail on their heads. When they walk up, they carry bags of mail -- mostly addressed to Lord Ayyappa. "Overall we enjoy what we do here," said Prakash. "We are very happy we got this posting.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

India Post collects over Rs 280 crore via Cash-on-Delivery for e-commerce firms


Within a year of joining the e-commerce bandwagon as a distribution channel, government entity India Post has transacted business worth Rs 280 crore in the Cash-on-Delivery (CoD) segment alone for firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.


While the amount of revenue generated for itself could not be ascertained, government officials said India Post is very keen on developing its e-commerce related services as a major revenue model going ahead.
"India Post collected over Rs 280 crore from consumers and gave it to e-commerce firms, since CoD facility was started in December 2013. The department with its huge network can serve as the best agency for not just delivering products, but also collecting money," a government official said.
However, this is a small chunk of the overall market size for e-commerce in India, which runs into billions of dollars already and is growing at a fast pace every year.
CoD has emerged as one of the most sought after services for e-commerce entities and 50-75 per cent of orders are placed with various online retailers with this payment option, while the remaining opt for credit card or bank payments.
In India, customers tend to prefer CoD as the online payment modes are yet to catch up in many parts of the country while many people are not comfortable with advance payments for products purchased online.
India Post's cash handling services like core banking solutions, money transfer and a robust account system can further help e-commerce firms in collecting cash from users in urban as well as rural areas, the official said.
India Post has about 1.55 lakh post offices, making it the world's largest postal network. On an average, a post office serves 21.21 sq km area and about 7,175 people.
Another official said various e-commerce firms have been using India Posts CoD facility since it was introduced. Firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Shopclues, Naaptol, Telebrands and Homeshop18 are some of them.
India Post has set up booking counters in the premises of some customers like Amazon and Naaptol, while for Snapdeal it is exploring setting up of e-commerce booking kiosks in post office locations.
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also said previously that India Post is best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce players, given its wide reach across rural, urban and semi-urban areas.
The Minister has directed officials from the Department of Posts to focus on opportunities in e-commerce sector.
India Post is also ramping up its infrastructure to grab a major chunk of the distribution, delivery or logistics, which will touch about $9 billion by 2021. According to market experts, e-commerce business in India was about $6 billion in value in 2012 and is expected to touch $76 billion by 2021 of which distribution, delivery and logistics constitutes around 12 per cent.

Source : The Economic Times

Saturday, November 29, 2014

More Likes for the New Post



THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN MAKING EFFORTS AT EXPANDING ITS REPERTOIRE OF SERVICES TO BE MORE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC IN CHANGING TIMES.

‘Penta Phones for sale’ says the banner before the district head post-office here, located near the old bus stand. Another of the Postal Department’s efforts at a makeover, the Penta Phone seems to have got off on the right foot. In the last one month, post offices at Sangareddy and Zaheerabad sold about two hundred phones, the stock being cleared within just an hour.

The phones, which can be booked by paying Rs.500, come with a BSNL-to-BSNL talk time offer of Rs.1,999.

That’s not all. Targeting the corporate customer and their needs for fast and end-to-end, reliable transportation across the nation, the department launched ‘Logistic Post’.

Tie-up with Railways


With a tie-up with the railways, and its own strong nationwide network to back it, Logistics Post transports the customer’s goods to the nearest post office. Four routes were launched two months ago, including Hyderabad-Adilabad-Mancherial, Hyderabad-Chennai (via Vijayawada), Hyderabad-Bangalore, and Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam and eight vehicles roped in exclusively for this purpose. The industrial estate at Patancheru in Medak district serves as the Logistics Post Centre.

Another service of the Postal Department is the Book-Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme, where customers can first avail of the service, and pay their bills later. More than a dozen organisations, including private sector units, have already been using this service.

The Passenger Railway Reservation System (PRRS) was introduced at Sangareddy and Jogipet post offices. However, reservations can only be made during working hours of the department, making it inconvenient for customers.

The E-seva, similar to MeeSeva, introduced by the department provides services to the public at a cost fixed by the government. “Other services being offered by the department include My Stamp – where one can get his or her printed photo on the stamp and use it, Direct Post for distribution of pamphlets, Media Post through which customers can put up advertisements in the department premises, and e-Post which enables a customer to send a scanned copy of a letter to the remotest part of the country where a post office exists,” says Postal Superintendent K. Janardhan Reddy.