Lok Sabha Question No. 3642 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Postal Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3642 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 TH   AUGUST, 2018

## POSTAL SERVICES

†3642. DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK':

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the services provided/being provided by the Department of Posts in the country during the last three years along with the revenue earned/being earned therefrom, service-wise and year-wise;
- (b) whether there has been a decline in the use of various postal services during the said period and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  take  any  steps  to  increase  the  usage  of  postal services in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the details of new postal services, if any, introduced/being introduced by the Government during the said period?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) The services provided/being provided by the Department of Posts in the country during the  last  three  years  along  with  the  revenue  earned/being  earned  therefrom,  are  annexed  as Annexure-A.
- (b) The Department of Posts offers various services for the usage of customers. While most of the services have shown an increasing trend during the period, there are also some services which  have  shown  a  decline.  The  increasing  and  decreasing  trend  of  services  varies  with requirement  of  the  customers  and  also  has  seasonal  fluctuations.  Department  of  Posts  is closely  monitoring  the  traffic  of  various  postal  services  and  is  adjusting  to  the  needs  of  the customers  by  adding  value  to  the  existing  postal  services  as  well  as  by  introducing  new services.
- (c) The following steps have been taken by the Government to increase the usage of Postal services in the country:-
- (i) IT Modernization Project is being undertaken to improve the services and efficiency of Department of Posts with a total outlay of Rs 4909 crore. The Project involves computerization and Modernization and networking of ~ 1, 55,000 Post Offices in the  country,  including  ~  1,  30,000  Branch  Post  Offices  in  rural  areas  run  by  the Gramin Dak Sevaks.

The  project  involves  providing  Central  Server  based  integrated,  modular  and scalable  solution  for  all  the  operations  of  Department  of  Posts  including  Mails, Human Resource, Banking, Insurance and Finance  &  Accounts.  It  also  involves creation of IT Infrastructure like Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre, setting up of a Wide Area Network (WAN) and providing solar powered and portable  handheld computing devices (Micro ATM compliant) to all the Branch Post Offices.

- (ii) Core Banking Solution (CBS) has been implemented in Post Office Savings Bank. This has resulted in enabling anywhere banking, i.e. a Post Office Savings Bank (POSB)  Customer  can  transact  with  their  account  from  any  CBS  Post  Office  in India, irrespective of where his/her account stands.

ATMs have been installed and made interoperable, i.e. a POSB customer can use his/her ATM card in ATM of any Bank in addition to Postal ATMs. Bank Customers can also use their ATM cards at PO ATMs.

- (iii) IPPB:    With  the  objective  of  furthering  financial  Inclusion,  India  Post  Payments Bank (IPPB) is being  set up with 100% Government  of India (GOI) equity, under Department of Posts (DoP), Ministry of Communications. The roll out will include 650 IPPB branches co-located at District Headquarters Post office along with all the  access  points  (Post  Offices)  as  linkages.  The  India  Post  Payments  Bank (IPPB)  has  launched  its  two  branches  in  Raipur  (Chhattisgarh)  and  Ranchi (Jharkhand) with 6 access points on 30/01/2017.

IPPB  would  focus  on  providing  basic  financial  services  such  as  all  kinds  of payments; including social security payments, person to person remittances (both domestic and cross-border), current and savings accounts up to a balance of Rs 1 lac,  distribution  of  insurance,  mutual  funds,  pension  products  and selling  of  third party products especially in rural areas and among the underserved segments of the society. IPPB will also provide doorstep banking to its customers.

- (iv) All  the  PLI/RPLI  operations  have  been  automated  under  the  Financial  Services integrations (FSI) Project 2012. The business processes developed for the new PLI Software  in  the  FSI  project  involve  all  processing  work  to  be  done  at  Central Processing  Centers  (CPCs)  with  provision  for  online  approval  by  the  competent authority without any physical movement of files beyond CPCs.
-  Facility of web portal and mobile portal
-  Convenient Premium Payment Options
-  Customer Care
-  Anytime anywhere policy procurement
-  Sampoorna  Bima  Gram  Yojana  -  Under  Sampoorna  Bima  Gram  Yojana,  at least one village (having a minimum of 100 households) has been identified in each of the revenue districts of the country, where in endeavour will be made to cover all households of that identified village with a minimum of 1 Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) policy each.
-  Saansad Adarsh Grams (SAGs) adopted by Members of Parliament have also been brought under the ambit of Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana, where in all households of the villages adopted by Members of Parliament under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yajana will be covered by a minimum of 1 RPLI policy each.

- (v)  For improving the Mail Operations, the following steps have been taken:
-  Computerization, infrastructure and site upgradation of sorting and mail processing offices has been carried out.
-  End to end tracking facility is provided for accountable articles viz. Speed Post, Registered Post, Parcels etc.
-  Dedicated point to point road transport for fast & secure transmission of Speed Post, Parcels and e-commerce articles has been introduced.
-  Department vehicle have been equipped with Geo Positioning System (GPS) for monitoring on real time basis.
-  Nodal Mechanized delivery Centers for delivery of parcels and Speed Post have been established.
-  Quality  Monitoring  Cells  have  been  established  in  the  circle  to  monitor  mail performance.
-  A separate Parcel Directorate has been established in the Department of Posts to  holistically  manage  the  sales  &  marketing  activities  and  operations  of  the parcel business.
-  The facility of Short Messaging Service (SMS) alerts is also being utilized for giving the delivery status of an article.
-  Cash - on - Delivery facility especially for e-commerce companies has been provided as a value addition to the Speed Post.
-  National Account facility has been introduced under Speed Post for contractual customers.
-  Outsourced Postal Agents scheme has been introduced with a view to extend door pick-up and delivery of various kinds of articles.
-  Android based mobiles have been provided to postmen for delivery through postman mobile app to capture delivery in real time.
- (vi)      Aadhar  Enrolment  and  Updation -Department  of  Posts  has  been  mandated  to leverage its vast network by providing Aadhaar Enrolment and Updation facilities through  Post  Offices  across  the  country.  13,  277  Aadhaar  Centres  have  been opened  across  the  country  as  on  date.  This  will  bring  the  convenience  to  the residents in generating  new Aadhaar and updating their Aadhaar cards in case of  any  change/mis-match  besides  improving  footfall  in  post  offices  and  thus generating revenue for the department.
- (vii) Post  office  Passport  Seva  Kendras  (POPSKs)-Department  of  Posts  (DoP)  and Ministry  of  External  Affairs  (MEA)  have  mutually  agreed  for  leveraging  the network  of  Post  Offices  as  Passport  Seva  Kendras  for  benefit  of  citizens.  The objective  of  this  partnership  is  to  extend  passport  related  services  on  a  larger scale and to ensure wider area coverage.

As of now 215 POPSKs (Post office Passport Seva Kendras) have been opened in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs.

- (viii) Soverign Gold Bond- Department is actively engaged in the premier scheme 'Sale of Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB)' introduced in 2015-16 by the Government of  India,  Ministry  of  Finance,  and  operated  through  RBI.  The  objective  of  the scheme is to popularize 'Paper Gold' among masses and to reach out the small investors at the grass root level.

(d) The  details  of  new  postal  services  introduced/being  introduced  by  the  Government during the said period are as follows:-

- (i) International Tracked Packet Service w.e.f 09.10.2017 (Presently for 12 countries)
- (ii) Cool  EMS  Service  (one  way  service  from  Japan  to  India)  w.e.f.  31.03.2018. Presently the service is available in Delhi.
- (iii) Aadhar  Enrolment  and  Updation -Department  of  Posts  has  been  mandated  to leverage its vast network by providing Aadhaar Enrolment and Updation facilities through Post Offices across the country.
- (iv) Post  office  Passport  Seva  Kendras  (POPSKs)-Department  of  Posts  (DoP)  and Ministry  of  External  Affairs  (MEA)  have  mutually  agreed  for  leveraging  the network of Post Offices as Passport Seva Kendras for benefit of citizens.
- (v) Sovereign Gold Bond - Department is actively engaged in the premier scheme 'Sale of Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB)' introduced in 2015-16 by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, and operated through RBI.
- (vi) India  Post  Payment  Bank  -With  the  objective  of  furthering  financial  Inclusion, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been set up with 100% Government  of India (GOI) equity, under Department of Posts (DoP), Ministry of Communications.
- (vii) Sukanya Samridhi Yojana has been introduced on 22.01.2015 **
- (viii) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojna has been introduced on 07.09.2015**
- (ix) Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti BimaYojna has been introduced on 07.09.2015**
- (x) Atal Pension Yojana has been introduced on 01.12.2015**

** These services are being undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.

## DETAILS OF REVENUE EARNED BY DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

| The Services being provided by Department of Posts                     |   Financial Year 2015-16 |   Financial Year 2016-17 |   Financial Year 2017-18 up to SY-I |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| Speed Post                                                             |                  1605.77 |                  1785.25 |                             1846.62 |
| Business Post                                                          |                   735.93 |                   752.52 |                              730.72 |
| Express Parcel                                                         |                    58.77 |                    64.18 |                               53.92 |
| Business Parcel                                                        |                    90.22 |                    94.8  |                               85.81 |
| Bill Mail Service                                                      |                    99.04 |                    77.15 |                               56.07 |
| Electronic Post                                                        |                     2.9  |                     1.63 |                                4.78 |
| Postage through Franking Machines and Pre Postage                      |                   830.66 |                   777.34 |                              857.87 |
| Sale of Stamps                                                         |                   441.74 |                   470.78 |                              366.77 |
| Commemorative stamps                                                   |                    33.25 |                    43.3  |                               61.96 |
| My stamps                                                              |                     2.83 |                     5.33 |                                6.21 |
| Philatelic Ancillaries                                                 |                     2.91 |                    13.54 |                               38.19 |
| Postage- Other schemes *                                               |                     9.04 |                     8.5  |                               46.21 |
| Money Order & Indian Postal Orders                                     |                   464.84 |                   284.62 |                              228.11 |
| Retail Post                                                            |                    76.87 |                    67.68 |                              108.59 |
| Logistic Post                                                          |                    15.52 |                    16.31 |                               15.41 |
| Electronic Bill collection                                             |                    30.79 |                    26.34 |                               22.88 |
| Railway ticket booking                                                 |                     3.38 |                     2.54 |                                2.25 |
| Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme                        |                   425.28 |                    48    |                              156.9  |
| Other activities **                                                    |                   446.96 |                   152.57 |                              223.98 |
| Net Receipts/Payments to other Postal Administration (Other Countries) |                  -220.78 |                  -267.22 |                             -192.03 |
| Savings Banks & Cash Certificates Remuneration ***                     |                  7783.87 |                  7085.84 |                             8102.3  |
| Total                                                                  |                 12939.8  |                 11511    |                            12823.5  |
| Postal Life Insurance (PLI) Remuneration ****                          |                   354.76 |                   394.25 |                              439.04 |
| Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) Remuneration ****                   |                   264.9  |                   270.13 |                              277.02 |

## Annexure-A

In crore

*Postage-Other schemes includes Greeting Post, Direct Post, National Bill Mail, Fate rate Parcel, Over Night Parcel, e VPP, e-Commerce Product and International Mails.

**Other activities includes retail activities such as Sale of forms, Examination/ Recruitment Fee, Cable TV Registration Fee, Fee from ATM interoperable, Other recoveries from APS, Sale of old records etc.

***Savings  Accounts,  Recurring  Deposit  (RD),  Time  Deposit  (TD),  Monthly  Income  Scheme (MIS),  Public  Provident  Fund  (PPF),  National  Savings  Certificate  (NSC),  Kisan  Vikas  Patra (KVP), Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS), Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts.

****PLI and RPLI remuneration are accounted as Recoveries ( i.e. reduction of Expenditure)

-  In addition to the above, some other services like (i) Social Security Schemes like Indira Gandhi  National  Old  Age  Pension  Scheme  (IGNOAPS),  Indira  Gandhi  National  Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS),  Indira  Gandhi  Matritva  Sahyog  Yojana  (IGMSY),  and  International  Mails Services  like  Letter, Express  Mail  Service  (EMS)  Speed  Post, Air  Parcel, International Tracked Packets are also provided by Department of Posts.

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