Gole Dak Khana Wins Accolades for Service Quality

The historic Gole Dak Khana post office in New Delhi has won the prestigious ‘Sevottam’ title for service excellence for the second time in a row.

Back in 2008,  Gole Dak Khana - officially known as New Delhi GPO - had created waves, becoming the first Central Government Office in India to achieve the “Sevottam” service delivery excellence standards. This quality benchmark is as per the standard IS 15700: 2005 developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and is an indication of high quality of service. The BIS has now renewed the Sevottam License of the New Delhi GPO up to 2014, after subjecting the post office through a rigorous assessment process, which it passed with flying colours.

“Gole Dak Khana” or the Round Post Office came up in 1934, in the building formerly known as Alexandra Place. Originally a Sub Post Office, it was upgraded to a Head Post Office in 01.01.1948. Surrounded by lush greens, it also served as a hub of social activity for the common man during those transient times. 

Throughout its Sevottam Odyssey, the New Delhi GPO has functioned as a unified organisation, exhibiting strong commitment to providing the customers high quality mail, parcel and related services. There has been a sharp customer focus as envisioned in the Citizen’s Charter of the Department of Posts. Outcome of Post Forum Meetings and customer feedback are regularly scrutinized to assess whether customer expectations are attained. A Sevottam compliant Grievance Redress Mechanism, periodical internal audits and Management Review Meetings are other tools are utilized to monitor the implementation of Service Quality Policy. There is also a continuous effort to re-invent the services according to the changing needs of the 

Possessing an unrivalled ambience and operating through a trained and dedicated work force, Gole Dak Khana is a true role model for any Central Government Office.

Aadhar Enrolments: Why Post Office is the Popular Choice?

- Anurag Priyadarshee*

Of late, post offices across the country have been attracting large crowds eager to enroll themselves for Aadhar. In many post offices enrolment slots for the whole year are already booked and citizens are being advised to book post office appointments for the enrolment in the next year.

Post offices are used to having unmanageable rush of customers off and on, as they keep being entrusted with a variety of assignments due to their unparalleled reach among Indian citizens. People rushing to the post offices for Aadhar enrolment is however significant in view of the fact that post offices are not the only agency engaged in this work. Despite the fact that banks, state governments agencies and other institutions are also offering this service, people are seen distinctly preferring the post offices to get themselves enrolled for Aadhar.

Raghavendra Rao and his friends in Bangalore, for instance, have got appointment for Aadhar enrolment at the post office in February next year. He is quoted by Bangalore Mirror in its 6 September 2011 issue mentioning that he would wait for his turn and get registered at the post office only. He and his friends do not want to go anywhere else for this purpose even if his turn may come much faster there.

Such loyalty to the Post Office is a vindication of the pro-people culture and environment nurtured and evolved at post offices over a century and a half. While people, especially those belonging to the under-privileged strata, find it intimidating to attend a bank branch or other government office, they feel at ease while transacting at the post offices. The Post Office as an institution is more deeply rooted in various local social structures than any other similar institution, whether public or private. This rich ‘bridging’ social capital is being leveraged while offering schemes such as Aadhar enrolment at post offices.

There may be some learnings here for policymakers designing programmes for improvement of wellbeing of the common people. Deeper engagement of Post Offices with delivery of social sector programmes may address several constraints associated with them.

* Director (Rural Business), India Post.

The views expressed are personal.

Karma in the Time of Turbulence -I

In the charged atmosphere at the Ramlila Maidan, in the midst of all the high decibel activity, Satish Chand, a postman from the Indra Prastha Post Office of New Delhi has quietly been delivering mail every day to none other than Anna Hazare.

It is a huge crowd, and it is in thrall. Locating anyone in the middle of all this is next to impossible. But the cell phone helps. And Satish Chand with his postman instincts efficiently guides me over the phone to himself, even as he steadily progresses through the dense gathering from the main gate at one end of the Ramlila Maidan to the raised stage at the other.

Satish has the postman bag safely clutched in his hand. Today he has letters only for one person. The addressee is seated on the elevated stage at the Maidan. He is on a protest fast, and all activity within visible distance is centred on him. His name is Anna Hazare.

“Though the fast has been on for ten days, mail started flowing in only from the third day”, says Satish, in cultured Hindi. He along with his colleague Dharam Pal has been delivering letters, registered letters, money orders and Speed Post shipments every day since then. I am unnerved by the thought being at work in the midst of such a massive gathering, and in such an emotionally charged environment. “Don’t you feel scared”, I ask, “more so since you are a uniformed government servant finding your way through a gathering which is protesting against the government?”

“No saab”, smiles Satish. His conviction is strong and simplicity, disarming. “The dakiya is welcome everywhere, even in protest marches. I just tell people I am carrying mail for Anna Hazare, and they make way for me. No one has created any problem.”

“But these are not normal working conditions”, I insist.  He thinks over and agrees. Reaching the elevated stage from the main gate itself takes 45 minutes. There are many checks and searches in between. “My work is simple, saab”, he explains. “I have to find the right addressee and hand over his mail. It makes no difference how much I have to wait, or whether I have to walk long in the sun. My duty is complete when all the mail pieces are distributed to the right recipients”. 

(Continued in Part II)

- PN Ranjit Kumar

The writer is Director (Global Business) at India Post. The views are personal.

Karma in the Time of Turbulence -II

In the charged atmosphere at the Ramlila Maidan, in the midst of all the high decibel activity, Satish Chand, a postman from the Indra Prastha Post Office of New Delhi has quietly been delivering mail every day to none other than Anna Hazare.

(Continued from Part I)

Delivering mail to individuals and groups at temporary camps is not new to the Post Office. Satish himself has distributed mail to religious and political organisations camping at Ramlila Maidan many times in the past. What is different with Anna Hazare’s event is the volume. If it was one or two dozen letters in the past, it is a few hundred every day this time. “Annaji has also been receiving many e-Post messages”, says Satish. E-Post is a hybrid mail product where the e-mail messages from sender is printed out by the Post Office and delivered as a letter. The younger followers probably find a tailor made solution in e-Post to connect with the venerable Gandhian.

“An office has been set up next to the stage, and it functions efficiently”, informs the post man. “Completing the documentation for registered letters and money orders has not been a problem”. He also reports that the flow of money orders has thinned – from about Rs.15,000 in the initial days it has declined to about Rs. 500 now.

As the crowd at the Maidan continues to respond to its leaders, our conversation gets increasingly subsumed in the noise. It would surely be difficult to ignore this build-up and this emotionally charged atmosphere, I argue. Doesn’t he get influenced when he witnesses this every day? “When I am in my uniform, my concern is only the mail in my hand”, Satish says with the same clarity of thought as before.

The brief chat over, Satish resumes his journey along the line of his duty. As I wade my way back through the sea of Anna’s supporters, my thoughts go to the karmic bonds that link people to other people and to institutions. Satish Chand has grasped the essence of his trade - the Post Office is all about simple tasks done the right way.

- PN Ranjit Kumar

The writer works as Director (Global Business) at India Post. The views are personal.

Art Project on Posting Your eMail

A global voluntary initiative that propagates the strength of the written word over its digital counterpart

I long to receive a three page, heart-rending, soppy letter, filled with words carefully chosen and eternal.

- Bobbie Ann Pimm (American writer)

It is not nostalgia alone that makes us long for that elusive letter – it is also the feeling of warmth that it evokes, its ability to revive all those soft emotions of connecting with someone your own.

Ivan Cash, a 25-year old entrepreneur from San Francisco and lover of this quaint, old school form of communication, recently decided to spread the message of the hand-written letter far and wide. The result is a start-up, which is creating waves ironically in cyberspace, called Snail Mail My Email (SMME). A free transcription service, SMME takes your e-mail messages (subject to a word limit of 100), writes them down in manuscript and sends it on to the receiver, free of cost. Snail Mail My Email describes itself as an interactive community art project which seeks to share the warm-fuzzy feeling of receiving a personalized letter as well as to inspire people to send their own snail mail.Cash has the support of a global network of volunteers and the project will run for a one month period from July 15 to August 15.

We live in a world where the invisible information highway seems to have all but evicted the good old letter from everyday life. The folded paper in the envelope, carrying “words carefully chosen and eternal”, may be the next best thing to a loved one turning up at the door in person, but only very few of us either write or receive letters today. Is letter writing a lost art already?

Luckily many people like Cash still believe in the value of the written word over its digital counterpart, and they initiate efforts to ensure the survival of this art. Civil Society projects, school initiatives and art projects have taken place in different parts of the world. The public response to these efforts, like in the case of SMME, has always been warm and spontaneous. The art of the personal letter may be endangered, but is certainly not dead.

The letter is a beautiful expression of emotions, and an evolved representation of human nature. When you write a letter, you probably make someone’s day. The SMME project and other letter-writing initiatives, therefore, need all the support they can get.

How to join Snail Mail My Email: Anyone with internet access can partake SMME  by simply sending an email, after which the very same message will be handwritten and physically mailed to the chosen recipient anywhere in the world, completely free of charge. For details log on to http://snailmailmyemail.org/

A Home for India's Philatelic Heritage

Lekhika: Replica of one of the earliest 

depictions of letter writing in Indian culture. 

From a stone carving at Konark, Orissa. 

The renovated National Philatelic Museum (NPM) at New Delhi will be inaugurated on 11^th July, 2011.

Postage stamps represent a steady stream of communication from a nation, espousing its views on a variety of subjects in various pictorial formats. They are described as paper ambassadors of the issuing country, and have considerable socio-cultural relevance. The National Philatelic Museum brings forward selected stamps and other philatelic material for public viewing through carefully constructed exhibits, displays and models.

A museum is a community asset. The NPM has been redesigned keeping this in view. It is an interactive space devoted to philately, the art and science of collecting stamps. Philately transforms itself into a vehicle here, one that enables the young and the old to travel through the avenues of India’s rich history, culture, national achievements and natural wealth. The Museum has bays dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, past Prime Ministers of India and leaders of the freedom struggle. The displays also include themes like Science and Technology, Wildlife and Transport. There are glimpses of philately from other countries and displays from the Army Postal Service. There are relics, models and pictures representing postal life over the centuries.

NPM has an amphitheatre for talk shows and presentations, a reference library, a souvenir shop and an artist’s corner where stamp designers give live demonstrations. 

Village post office: A diorama from NPM

The Museum, thus, will hold enough attraction for the veteran collector as well as the curious visitor. Philately, it is hoped, will come alive here, enabling people to explore, learn, get inspired and find enjoyment.

Location:   At the ground floor, Dak Bhawan, Patel Chowk, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.

Timings:   Monday-Friday, 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM. Visits of school groups possible on Saturdays, on request

The Philatelic Husain

MF Husain’s work on cinema billboards is well known, and even celebrated. Much less discussed, however, have been the  philatelic designs he did for the country. The Department of Posts is known to have used his designs on three postage stamps and two First Day Covers.

The most striking among these five designs is the one titled Swarajya, on a composite postage stamp released to commemorate Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s inspirational call "Swaraj is my birthright" which moved generations of Indians. This stamp was released on 16th August 1988, amidst celebrations of the 40th anniversary of India's independence.

Tilak's thundering proclamation, the enthusiastic response of the country's youth to it, the rising spirit of nationalism and the spread of the message of self-reliance and self-confidence all combined to create an environment befitting an epic struggle. This backdrop of high drama and patriotism, predictably, inspired Husain, and he went on to produce a design that is one of the most striking ever to be seen on a postage stamp.

The Department of Posts and the India Security Press, Nashik also chipped in with their efforts to underline the uniqueness of the design - it was rendered as a composite setenant stamp, retaining every bit of its visual impact. The well known Husain elements like the horse, moving figures and graffiti-like characters are all there, but the mood is definitely one of defiance and the spirit, that of patriotism. The beginning of Tilak's historic proclamation appears in Marathi in Husain's handwriting at the top of the visual.

Though the print order of the stamp was 15 lakh, only a few of these stamps survive today. The surviving copies are proud possessions of the collectors who own them. 

The other two postage stamps based on Husain's designs were also released in the eighties. The first one, based on Husain's 1956 painting Between the Spider and the Lamp was issued in September 1982, and the other, commemorating Rani Lakshmi Bai, in May 1988.

- PN Ranjit Kumar

The author is a former philately administrator of the Government of India. The views are personal.

Trade and industry keen to join hands with the Post Office

Post Office is a unique infrastructure, but there is a growing realisation that its potential is not fully utilised by the nation. How can the inherent value of the postal network be unlocked? How can the trade and industry make better use of this huge network profitably? And what should be the role of the Post Office in the 21^st century?

These were some of the issues that were deliberated upon in the round table interactions held by Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology with industry leaders in New Delhi on 4^th July,2011. 

The event, organized under the theme  “Partnering India Post: 2012 and Beyond”, saw captains of the banking, telecommunication, logistics and IT industries as well as representatives of business associations expressing  a wish to join hands with India Post to take their products to different sections of the population. There was a general appreciation that India Post with its vast network of 1.5 lakh Post-Offices and the large bouquet of services like mails, logistics, finance, deposits, insurance, savings and retailing, has the potential to play a vital role in accelerating economic growth. The deliberations threw up specific suggestions on the areas, methods and challenges for developing symbiotic relationships between the Post Office and key stakeholders. Some valuable inputs  came up for the Department of Posts to develop its future business model. The need for the integration of such a business model with the technological architecture of the Vision 2012 project - an ambitious programme of computerizing and digitally connecting the entire postal network - was highlighted.

Public sector banking institutions advocated  retailing of loan products, mutual funds and other novel financial products. Central  Ministries and state administrations suggested that post offices can be utilized to deliver social security plans as is being done successfully with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Sachin Pilot,  Minister of State for Communications & IT, Government of India summarized the deliberations  at the end. He stated that the consultations show that Department of Posts belongs to all. The round table  should be a beginning for new endeavours, financial inclusion and opportunities for rural masses.

About seventy representatives of various Departments, PSUs, Banks and corporate world participated in the interactions. 

Providing Postal Services on the Internet

India Post set up shop on the internet on 9^th March, 2011, with launch of its e-Commerce portal, the “e-Post Office”.  This is a pilot project offering selected postal services, like the Electronic Money Order (eMO), Instant Money Order (iMO), Sale of Philatelic Stamps, Postal Information and Tracking of Express and International shipments.

The Department of Posts is committed to make the postal services more inclusive and more accessible to the citizens of the country. The e-Post Office takes this commitment forward a long way, by enabling the customers to transact postal business at any time, and from anywhere, using either debt card or credit card, through the medium of internet. Internet is fast becoming a way of life in India. We have more than 50 million internet users in the country. It represents a huge market, a new community in itself. India Post also hopes that the e-Post Office will help to rope in the younger generation who is internet savvy as customers to its products.

Plans are in place to scale up the portal to a full-fledged e-Market Place, which would offer a wide range of postal and non-postal products. India Post’s core competency in the mail-parcel segment will be leveraged for e-Commerce order fulfillment. Another objective is to convert it as a platform that facilitates small and medium enterprises to access new markets through e-Commerce.

The ePost Office clocked a turnover of about Rs. 1 crores during the first four months of its operation, making this pilot project notable success. It is expected to contribute substantially to the revenues of the Department in the years to come. You can access the e-Post Office at www.epostoffice.gov.in. For more details, you may write to www.epohelpdesk.gov.in .

“Buy, Pack and Send” : India Post to enhance the shopping experience at retail outlets

Often while shopping you comes across a product which you would have loved to gift a friend, but feel a tinge of sadness, because you are you unable to do so since the friend is living someplace else. India Post now introduces the “Buy, Pack and Send” service, to help you keep in touch with your near and dear, even when they are away.

The “Buy, Pack and Send” concept went operational last month when India Post in collaboration with Fabindia Overseas Private Limited opened a postal retail extension counter at the latter’s flagship store at Greater Kailash-I, in New Delhi.

           

Fabindia is India’s largest private retail platform for craft based products. As a part of the joint endeavor to enhance customer experience, India Post will now offer customers hassle free postal retail service which would enable them to buy, pack and dispatch merchandise not only to addresses  within India but also to international destinations. To help the customers in booking consignments, postal staff will be deployed at Fabindia store.

This initiative comes as an expansion of the existing postal retail service introduced earlier at the Jawahar Vyapar Bhawan (Cottage Emporium), New Delhi. Customers are able to use Speed Post and Registered Parcel services from the premises of the shopping complex to send products to places in India and abroad. The current tie-up with Fabindia is the first similar partnership with a private institution.

           

India Post is exploring avenues to increase the accessibility of postal services, and to make these services responsive to the changing needs of customers. Discussions are currently on with some agencies in the public and private sector for forging similar partnerships.

           

India Post is keen to hear from you on this initiative. Do leave your comments on this blog, or tweet to us at http://twitter.com/?lang=en&logged_out=1#!/PostOfficeIndia. 

South Asian Region: Posts to Push for Regional Business Cooperation

The academic world has seen a debate of sorts in recent times on the postal sector in developing countries. The debate, more specifically, has been economic in character, on the possible role of the Post Office as a driver of economic and social development. A Regional Postal Business Meet (RPBM)of the national postal operators of SAARC countries held at New Delhi in February 2011 has generated considerable optimism on the capability of the Posts to play such a facilitating role in the region.

           

The advent of new information and communication technologies, no doubt, has posed challenges to the Post. Yet, it exists, and serves a customer base that is virtually the entire population of the world. Examples have emerged in recent years from different parts of the world for ways to develop postal networks in sustainable ways, while they simultaneously contribute to the nations’ economic development. The thoughts and ideas at the RPBM focused on regional cooperation for such a sustainable development.

The participating Posts were those of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, apart from hosts India. Nepal Post could not make it to the Meet due to some domestic commitments.

The Meet discussed specific areas for cooperation in postal services, including :

• Introduction of logistic services.
• Development of Postal E-Commerce, particularly keeping the integration needs of individuals, micro enterprises and other small businesses in view.
• New Parcel and Express Products, tailored for trade facilitation in the region.
•  Constitution of a South Asian Postal Union and General Regulations of the South Asian Postal Union.
• Initiate money remittance services.
• Enhanced cooperation for business development in the region.
• Sharing best practices in postal business.

The need for bringing together the physical, electronic and financial dimensions of the postal networks of the seven countries of the South Asian Region was recognized, and the potential of such a cooperation for enhancing business cooperation among the countries and fostering economic growth was underlined.

The RPBM concluded with the signing of a joint statement by the Heads of the Delegations. It was agreed that this joint statement is a step in furthering postal cooperation in the South Asian region for facilitating sustainable development.

Poverty Reduction and Postal Network in India

 - Anurag Priyadarshee*

Poverty is a complex phenomenon and depends on various economic, social and environmental variables in a multi-dimensional space. It is an extremely significant issue for Indian society with some estimates suggesting that upto 75% of the Indian population may be poor and deprived of basic necessities to sustain a normally healthy life.

 

Literature investigating the causes of poverty in India can be categorized in three broad streams, while allowing for some overlaps. The structuralists attribute prevalence of poverty to unequal distribution of factors of production, mainly, land and capital. As the poor have a very limited supply of the factors of production, they are unable to participate in the process of economic growth. They are also unable to adequately access the health and educational infrastructure due to their assetlessness and thus most often fail to build up their capabilities. The situation is compounded due to continued social exclusion and discrimination. Others view the prevalence of poverty as a manifestation of inequitable economic growth across different geographic areas and various social groups. The situation, according to them, can be corrected by developing and nurturing institutions, and deepening and widening the markets so that they can effectively reach the marginalized. They believe that better outreach of institutions and markets, supported by appropriate technology would facilitate the economic growth to trickle down to the poor. Some others however believe that the absence of social protection measures and safety nets for the poor and vulnerable perpetuates poverty among them. According to them, the availability of social protection measures may help in correcting the poverty situation to a large extent.

It may not be feasible to address the inequality of distribution of factors of production in the prevailing politico-economic conditions in India. The efforts to reduce the poverty may therefore need to be focused on creating and developing appropriate institutions, and widening and deepening the markets. Microfinance can play a major role in developing such instruments to fight against poverty. At another level, strategy to combat poverty may involve initiating and expanding various social protection measures. These considerations explain the current emphasis on social protection and financial inclusion instruments to fight poverty not only in India but also in several other low-income countries. Both strategies however suffer from significant service delivery constraints causing exclusion of a large majority of poor households from access to microfinance, and inclusion and exclusion errors and elite capture of social protection programmes in almost all low-income countries. Such constraints are caused by the fact that such countries lack infrastructure capable of efficient delivery of microfinance and social protection.

India is differently placed in this regard as it has an extensive postal network that has the potential to efficiently deliver microfinancial services as well as social protection particularly in rural areas. In fact, India Post is the only agency suitably located to deliver such services due to its close proximity to the rural population, and its personnel being known to and trusted by the local communities. India Post network also has a long and rich experience of delivering financial services. It is the largest financial service delivery network in the country and has already contributed significantly towards financial inclusion in the country. Currently it has more than 250 million deposit accounts and more than 14 million clients of its life insurance business in addition to covering a sizeable population of the country through its remittance services and pension payments. It may however be important for India Post and the poor households of this country that it ventures into full-fledged microfinance and expand its outreach to also cover the very poor segment of the society.

 

Being a government department, India Post is in a better position than similarly placed agencies such as banks and NGOs, to coordinate with other government departments offering social protection. Moreover, it possesses valuable information-capital on the households that can be leveraged to efficiently identify the prospective recipients of the social protection programmes. India Post is currently disbursing about 50% of the wages under MGNREGS through its 47 million wage accounts. Additionally, it is also making pension payments to widows, disabled and old people located below the poverty line under various social protection schemes. Here again much still needs to be done to fully exploit the potential of India Post towards delivery of social protection.

India Post, being a part of the government of India, carries responsibility to further the mandate of the government and thus needs to more deeply engage with the government policies towards poverty reduction. This engagement is also likely to enhance India Post’s revenues while simultaneously serving the unserved, and thus reducing their economic isolation and improving their social and economic conditions.

This will, however, require India Post to rework its priorities and refocus on its strengths. It will need to engage more deeply with the state governments to design and offer more comprehensive financial service packages built around delivery of social protection programmes. Rural postal personnel will need to be adequately trained to enable them to manage relatively more complex financial transactions. India Post will need to review and overhaul the financing arrangements of rural post offices and institutionalize incentive structures for the staff for generating and carrying out additional work.

* Director (Rural Business), India Post.

The views expressed are personal.



The 'Why' of The India Post Blog

Ever since India Post established a presence in blogosphere earlier this week, there has been curiosity all around. Why are they here?  What do they have to say?  Who are they talking to?


India Post is indeed a first timer to the world of blogs.  But we are no strangers to social media.  The Post Office was one of the first Departments of the Government of India to establish a presence on the social media, through its Twitter page.


We have been communicating with our customers and friends through Twitter since October, 2009. This has been a fascinating experience for the organization.  While we discovered that there is tremendous goodwill for India Post, we also realized that there are many areas where we fall below the expectations for customers.  We have received bouquets, brickbats, feedback, suggestions, good wishes and advice from hundreds of friends through Twitter.  We have taken the feedback seriously, and adopted many of them into practice. This fascinating journey continues.

While the Twitter experience has been rewarding, it has also made India Post realize that two-way communication with customers need to be strengthened.  The blog that has been set up is meant to be an informal space where customers, users, friends and anyone interested in the post office can engage India Post in longer and more meaningful discussions.

We invite our customers and friends to The India Post Blog, and to touch base with us here.  Do keep sending in your feedback. Your comments and observations will be of value to us in providing better service and in constantly keeping up with your expectations. 

Post Office's Pioneering Role in Financial Inclusion

The Post Office has been providing affordable banking services to all sections of the society since 1882, making it the pioneer in facilitating financial inclusion in the country. India Post was a banker to small savers much before financial inclusion became a buzzword, or had even been coined as a phrase.

The financial services offered through the Post Office include micro and retail savings, remittances (both domestic and cross border), insurance, social security payments such as MGNREGA wages and Pension disbursements.  Many third party financial products such as mutual funds and pension funds have also become accessible to the public thanks to the neighbourhood post office starting to retail them. 

Out of the 155 000 post offices which provide retail financial services across India, 139 000 are in rural areas.  In comparison, the scheduled commercial banks and Regional Rural Banks of the country together have about 85 000 branches, of which only about 34 000 are in rural areas.  Another indicator of financial inclusion is the density of the banking network measured against population. The financial network is more inclusive when each branch of the bank has a lesser number of people to serve. In this regard, on an average, banks in India serve 14 000 persons per branch (16 000 in rural areas) whereas the average population served by each postal financial services outlet is only 7 175 (5 683 in rural areas).  Further, the average number of India Post financial outlets per lakh persons is 13.93 as compared to 6.33 in the case of banks.  It is also worth mentioning that our Post Office Savings Bank holds 24 crore accounts, more than entire populations of most countries.

The Post Office is now all set to enhance its role in financial inclusion thanks to a modernization project which it has taken up. A Core Banking platform is being set up for the financial services, and new services such as instant money orders have been introduced.  Further, services such as the prepaid cards are in the pipeline.  These measures will substantially augment India Post’s capabilities as a multi-faceted financial services provider.

One of the major issues of financial inclusion in India relates to the complexity of cash Management at the grass roots level.  Support infrastructure for financial services is inadequate in many parts of the country, particularly in the small towns and villages. It is against against this background that India Post’s network, with its transparent, accountable and centrally managed network assumes relevance. This is a ‘ready-made’ network, where cash management and infrastructure issues have already been taken care of.  Significantly, it is also a trusted and familiar network with roots in local communities where the village postmaster knows his customers personally.

India Post’s continuing stint as the banker to the common man over the last 130 years has been a fulfilling experience.  We are rediscovering ourselves through the modernization project, and looking forward to the Core Banking platform and other the modern systems and practices being introduced into the Post Office. The future will see the Post Office playing a more active role in facilitating financial inclusion in the country.

We are keen to hear from our customers and friends on the subject.  Do send in your comments, opinions and suggestions on the Post Office’s current and future role in financial inclusion.

Perceptions and the Post Office

A special feature on India Post (Department of Posts, Government of India) published in the Economic Times  dated 7 March 2011 has focussed the spotlight on the organisation.  It also left the staff and officers of the Department wondering about some of the figures and statements that appeared in the feature. The following few points may put the records straight :

Firstly, about the discussion on deficit.  It is true that during last two years, the expenditure has increased. But it is also well known that this increase is largely on account establishment cost going up consequent to implementation of  Pay Commission recommendations.  All Government departments whether in public service or otherwise, are in a similar situation.  India Post is also in an unusual situation of having to manage pensionary expenditure from its own budget. If this component of expenditure is overlooked, India Post's finances are not far from breaking even. With regard to revenue of the Department, the two main sources of revenue, tariff for mail and remuneration for savings bank are administered.

Secondly about technology.  It is true that post office computerization started nearly fifteen years back.  But the process was incremental and on stand alone basis.  A project to computerize and network all post offices by 2012-13 is now under implementation.   This will be a comprehensive and progressive solution, in tune with the customers' needs and expectations. It will create a platform for new services including extensive financial services, e-commerce and joint products from various corporate partners.

Thirdly about Post  Bank.  This Deprtment has got a report from consultant in this regard which is under processing.  It may be mentioned, till last year RBI did not show any inclination for issuing banking licenses.   Further to convert the Post Office into an effective banking outlet, the required networking and specialized banking package have to be put in place. These pre-requisites are under implementation now.

Fourthly about structure of the organization, leadership and continuity. There are as many  corporatized  Post Offices which have  failed as those which succeeded. In this regard continuity of vision and ability to transform are important.  But it is simplistic to assume that the entire vision and drive for change flows from one top person.  Leadership at all levels with a committed group for transformation is required.  That is what India Post is striving for at this juncture when it is going through a transformation excercise, for which concrete plans and definite timelines are in place. 

Today, the 150 thousand strong organisation stands mobilised as a single team in pursuit of this objective, and the goal is well within reach.