30/03/2016
India Post Cashes in on E-retail Boom
BHUBANESWAR: The Department of Posts has begun to rapidly upscale its parcel operations to cash in on e-retail boom in the country. It is all set to expand the integrated parcel and booking hubs across major locations while establishing a mechanised nodal delivery system soon, Union Secretary Kavery Banerjee said here on Tuesday.
Riding on the e-commerce growth, parcel and order delivery to customers through India Post has seen a major upswing in recent years. The parcel operations have, in fact, emerged the major revenue earner for the Department as traditional postal services have almost been pushed to oblivion on the onset of emails and mobile phones.
“Parcel revenue has shot up by 100 per cent in 2015-16 from 45 per cent in 2014-15. India Post boasts of a strong network reaching the nook and corner of the country which is a major advantage and alluring proposition for e-commerce companies. As many as 800 e-commerce sites have tied up for parcel and order delivery service and the number is increasing,” Banerjee said.
The Department, which has also ventured into banking, is also set to launch a mobile app enabling transactions from handsets later this year, she added.
The Secretary and top officials were here for the National Award presentation ceremony for outstanding business performance in Postal Life Insurance (PLI) in 2014-15. The spread of PLI policies has been increasing and touched 52.42 lakh as on March 31, 2015. Premium income has shown a higher growth from `2412.75 crore in 2009-10 to `5963.46 crore in 2014-15.
Ten officials of the Department, six agents and three postal divisions were presented with the awards for their performance in generating PLI business.
Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/