INDIA POSTS 2009 – KEEPING PACE WITH TIME
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1 | INDIA POSTS 2009 – KEEPING PACE WITH TIME | India Post is the largest postal network in the world. It provides postal facilities within reach of every citizen in the country through its vast network at affordable prices. From 23,344 post offices at the time of independence to 1,55,035 post offices as on 31.3.2008 (1,39,173 Post Offices are in rural areas and 15,862 Post Offices in urban areas), India Post has made a long journey. It is credited with the largest postal network in the world with one post office serving 7174 people and covering an area of approximately 21.2 sq. kms. |
| 2 | Project Arrow | A new scheme "Project Arrow" has been introduced in this plan period for refocusing on the objectives of customer satisfaction and service delivery exchange and enabling the Post Office to develop in to hub for civic and governance initiatives, which will have a direct impact on socio economic well being of citizens. 1000 post offices have already been covered and proposed to extend the project to another 4500 post offices. Project Arrow has been shortlisted for 'Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration' under the category of organizational initiatives. The initiative has been titled as 'Project Arrow - Transforming India Post'. A team of officers from the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions along with officials from ASCI, Hyderabad may visit some of the Project Arrow offices in any part of the country for on spot evaluation of the shortlisted nominations for the award from 24th of December 2009 to 20th of January 2010.
Secretary (Posts) is very keen that all Post Offices in Project Arrow should be able to show to the team members all the achievements and progress made under Project Arrow. |
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3 | IT INDUCTION | Out of a total of 25531 departmental post offices, 12604 POs including those in the rural areas have been computerised. 1304 Post Offices have been networked through leased lines so far with the National Data Centre. Further 5170 Post Offices have been networked through broad band. The strong IT‐ base has made it possible to offer a range of e‐enabled services to the customers. |
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4 | Core Banking solution for Post Office Small Savings Scheme customers | Any‐where, Any‐time and Any branch banking i.e. Core Banking Solutions (CBS) is included in the 11th Five Year Plan with a financial outlay of Rs. 106 crores for development of CBS software and other related activities. This will support Post Office Savings Bank and Saving Certificates business with improved operational efficiency, to Small Savings Scheme customers from 4,000 post offices. |
| 5 | Premium Services | The revenue from premium products such as Speed Post, Bill Mail Service and Business Post has been growing consistently per annum. From Rs. 425.74 crores revenue booked in 2003‐04, it achieved Rs.1435 crores in 2008‐09. One of the premium products, Speed Post, which is covering more than 1200 towns is now having a market share of 27% in the courier segment. |
| 6 | International Money Transfer | As a result of the collaboration of the Department of Posts, Government of India with the Western Union Financial Services, USA, a state of the art International Money transfer Service is available through the post offices in India, which enables instantaneous remittance of money from 185 countries to India. The recipients can in fact collect the money in minutes after the sender has made the remittance.
The service is targeted to fulfill the needs of NRI dependent families in India, visiting International tourists and foreign students studying in India.
The International Money Transfer process is as follows:
1. To avail of this Service, a remitter goes to any one of the more than 100,000 Western Union Locations in the 185 countries in which the Service operates , fills up a "To send money" form and pays principal amount and charges. The sender gets a Money Transfer Control Number on a receipt after the transaction is sent through the system. Thereafter, the sender calls up his/her payee and gives information on the money sent. The Payee / Receiver goes to the post office , fills up a "To receive money" form shows valid identification and receives money along with the receipt, once the transaction is verified. This entire process is completed within ten minutes.
2. The Payee receives the full amount in Indian Rupees. Not more than 2500 USD can be sent at a time as per applicable RBI regulations which must however be only for personal use..
3. The Post offices treats the payee as "Most Favoured Customers", which ensures courteous and efficient service to them.
4. For the sake of facilitating the transactions, the recipients can use any one of the following documents to establish their identity: a) Voter Card b) Passport c) Driving License d) Income Tax PAN Card
5. The Post office also provides its own identity card to regular customers so that other proof of identity does not have to be provided by them again.
6. The service is currently available in all the State/Union Territory capitals and other major cities in the country.
7. This International Money Transfer Service is safe, legal, fast & reliable. Also, it is approved by the Reserve Bank of India and is being provided by a Department of the Government of India i.e. the Department of Post.
9. At present the Post office will only provide its customers with the facility of receiving money and not of sending money from India to other countries, as per applicable RBI instructions.
10. On the request of the NRI community , the department is open to extending the services to any other location (village/town/city) as well, which has the potential clientele.
11. For further information on the service, the International representatives of the Western Union Financial Services International can be contacted in any of the 185 countries from which the service is available. |
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7 | iMO | An on‐line web‐based domestic money transmission service called iMO was launched in January 2006 which enables the customer to receive money in minutes from any of the post offices providing this service. Under this service, a person can send amount from Rs.1000/‐ up to Rs.50, 000/‐ in one transaction instantly. The service is functional in 2175 locations across the country. |
| 8 | eMoney Order (eMO) | The electronic money order, which has been launched in October 2008, facilitates transmission of ordinary money orders through electronic media without any extra charge. At present 8003 post offices are offering this service. |
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9 | e‐Payment | e‐Payment is a 'Many to One' service through which bills (telephone, electricity, municipal dues, taxes etc.) are paid by customers in Post Offices which are then electronically consolidated and paid to the service provider. The service is presently available in about 8457 Post Offices across the country and will soon be extended to all 12604 computerized Post Offices. The Cabinet Committee on Economic affairs has approved, a Project management Unit in the Department to conceptualize, plan, implement and monitor the plan schemes for computerization and networking of all the post offices in the country. The Department has engaged an IT consultant to assist in preparing the roadmap and strategy for the same. |
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10 | Postal Finance Mart | Postal Finance Mart (PFM) offer all the financial products and services under one roof "One Stop Shop for Financial Services" in a fully computerized office supported by technology, at par with reputed banking institutions. |
| 11 | Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) | The ECS scheme provides an alternative method of effecting bulk payment transactions like periodic (monthly/ quarterly/ half-yearly/ yearly) payments of interest/ salary/ pension/ commission/ dividend/ refund by Banks/Companies /Corporations /Government Departments. The transactions under this scheme move from a single User source (i.e. Banks/Companies /Corporations /Government Departments) to a large number of Destination Account Holders (Customers/Investors). This scheme obviates the need for issuing and handling paper instruments and thereby facilitates improved customer service by the Banks and Companies/Corporations/Government Departments effecting bulk payments.
The Scheme is in operation at 15 centres where Reserve Bank of India manages Clearing Houses, 21 centres where SBI is managing ECS on behalf of RBI and 29 other centres where PNB and other banks are managing ECS on behalf of RBI.
The ECS is being offered in the Department of Posts in connection with payment of monthly interest under "Monthly Income Scheme" (MIS). The Department of Posts introduced ECS scheme on a pilot basis in Mumbai City on 9th August 2003. Under ECS, the depositors have the facility of getting MIS interest automatically transferred and credited into their SB account on the due dates at the designated Bank of their choice. Currently, the service is available in the Department of Posts at 15 RBI locations and 19 SBI locations. |
| 12 | Department of Posts: Extensive Reach | India Post delivers 1,575 crore mails every year linking every nook and corner of the country through a network of 1,54,149 post offices and 5,64,701 letter boxes. You can use the following for your branding exercise. Advertisement on postcards, letters, aerogrammes, postal stationary etc.
Space sponsorship options on letter boxes. |
| 13 | Collection of Rural Price Index Data | Ministry of Statistics and program implementation (MOSP) has entrusted the job of collecting statistics for ascertaining the Rural Price Index from 1183 post offices across the country with effect from Oct 2009. The data so collected would be electronically transmitted to MOSP which will help them in arriving at Rural cost Price Index. This is one of the prestigious collaborations where the Department of Posts is emerging as potential service provider to other organizations.
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| 14 | Railway Ticket Booking across Post office counters. | Railway Ministry and the Department of Posts have signed a memorandum of understanding for providing railway ticket booking services at the post offices.
This service is now available in many places across the country. The Postal Department is using computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) to issue tickets.
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| 15 | NREGS | The Department of Posts is discharging the responsibility to disburse the wages to NREGS beneficiaries through Post Office Savings Bank account. Currently operational in 19 Postal Circles comprising of 21 States, the scheme is operational through 90,000 post offices (including HOs/SOs/BOs). Nearly 4 crore NREGS accounts opened up to November 2009, disbursed approximately Rs.4900 crores in this financial year alone. |
| 16 | Tie‐up with NABARD | The Department of Posts in collaboration with NABARD is providing the facility of micro‐credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) through identified post offices on agency basis. The corpus fund for implementing this project is given by NABARD in appropriate instalments. The pilot is in operation in five districts involving seven divisions of Tamil Nadu Circle. So far, 800 SHGs have been provided with a loan of more than Rs 1.9 crores. |
| 17 | ICICI Prudential Life Insurance | Department of Posts has signed an Agreement on 17.9.08 with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. to retail their Pension Products through select Post Offices on Referral Model. The company will train the postal staff at selected locations and will provide requisite materials such as application forms, literature related to products, ready reckoners, etc., to the identified Post Offices. Upto now about 817 Head Offices across the country have started distributing these pension products of ICICI Prudential. |
| 18 | PTie‐Up With SBI: | India Post has tied up with State Bank of India to sell its assets and liability products through identified post offices. Initially, started in five states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the scheme is extended to 23 States and UT. The total liability products sold so far amounts to Rs. 37 crores and total asset products sold amounted to Rs.12.98 crores. The scheme is proposed to be implemented in 5300 post offices throughout the country. |
| 19 | Old age pension | Old Age Pension is being paid through 20 lacs Post Office Savings accounts in Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand and North East, and through Money Order in J&K, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. |
| 20 | Sale of Gold Coins | As a tie‐up with Reliance Money Limited sale of gold coins has been launched on 15th October, 2008 as part of retail post in selected post offices. Under the Scheme available in 468 Post Offices in 16 Circles, the Department has sold 331 kgs of gold since its inception earning a commission of Rs 2.25 crores. |
| 21 | On Line Acceptance of RTI Applications | The Department of Posts has been assisting other public authorities under the Central Government in implementing the RTI Act by providing services of its designated Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs). For this, Sub Post Masters at Tehsil level act as the Central Assistant public Information officer (CAPIO) for accepting RTI requests and appeals from all central Government Departments. The Department has designated 4000 Post offices as receipt and forwarding points for applications under RTI. |
| 22 | GLOBAL BUSINESS | To meet the demands of its customers and to fuel its own ambitions of growth, it has become imperative for India Post to look at business beyond the national boundaries. A Global Business Division has been set up in the Department of Posts to provide focus to its international operations and help India Post emerge as an organization with worldwide capabilities. |
| 23 | Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). | The UIDAI project plans to create unique identification numbers for all Indians by 2011. The identification number will primarily help to 'authenticate' an individual in the country and will be issued to Indian residents on a voluntary basis. The implementation of the project will see the rural post offices collect the information with the help of its postman who reach to the doorstep of the households. |
| 24 | New Pension System (NPS) by Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA). | The Department of Posts (DOP) would, to start with, make the NPS available at over 800 of its branches all over the country, and expand the distribution network to more branches in a phased manner in its endeavour to make NPS available to all citizens in all parts of the country. Both PFRDA and the Department of Posts see significant potential and synergy in this partnership for the development of the NPS and believe that it will significantly further and promote the Government's initiative to provide old age income security to all citizens of India. |
| 25 | Mutual Funds | Department of Posts for over 150 years has been serving the 'Aam Adami' and essentially is a service organization with an ideal combination of traditional and modern services. Project Arrow initiative is a step towards the future and you can feel it on the ground too. Our latest quantum jump has been acquiring of 3 freighter aircraft carriers inducted in Chennai to serve India Post dedicatedly.
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| 26 | E courts | "The necessity of e-courts has arisen due to shortcomings of a paper-based system like storage, maintenance and wastage of a lot of paper," e-courts will help courts function in a more organized way and will provide aces to any case file for anyone from anywhere across the globe. Department of Posts will mark its presence in this project too. |
| 27 | Media Post | India Post offers an unique media concept to help the Indian corporate and the Government organizations reach potential customers through Media Post. Creative, cost-effective and personalized , it is over packed . Absolutely no other media can match the sheer expanse of India Post in terms of volume and reach. Media Post - an innovative & effective vehicle for Brand and Marketing managers to communicate their corporate messages across the nation.
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| 28 | India Post Forex Services | High growth Indian economy coupled with globalisation has resulted in thousands of Indians going abroad for travel, studies and business. Simultaneously, there is a huge inflow of foreign tourists visiting India on vocation and business. This has resulted in the need for a reliable and quality service provider for purchase and sale of Foreign Exchange.
Each one of them requires reliable, affordable and convenient Forex services. At many places, there is no Bank or other facilities to avail foreign exchange. India Post, with a network of more than 155,000 post offices, is best poised to offer Forex services in an efficient and economical manner. Now India Post, in association with HDFC Bank, provides Forex services through select Post Offices across India. HDFC Bank is one of the leading providers of Forex services and through this association, India Post brings to the customers a range of Forex services in a professional and efficient manner. Goals and objective:
To make Forex services available across India as a 'reliable and affordable product' for the customers at a competitive price, through the vast distribution network of India Post. To provide convenience to the customers by making Forex services available at a large number of locations covering urban as well as rural areas, where banks and exchange companies do not offer foreign exchange service or do not have the presence. |
- Courtesy : Dept. of Posts, Patiala Division
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