Lok Sabha Question No. 1040 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-08
Subject: Financial Position of Department of Post
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: LAKHAN LAL SAHU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1040 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 TH  FEBRUARY, 2017

## FINANCIAL POSITION OF DEPARTMENT OF POST

†1040. SHRI LAKHAN LAL SAHU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  remedial  steps  to  strengthen  the  financial condition of the department of post;
- (b) if so, the details thereof for the last three years and the current year;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to increase the tariff of various postal items;  and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a)  Yes, Madam.
- (b)  The details of the financial position during the last three years and current year is as follows:

(Rs. in crore)

| Items/ Year      |   2013-14 |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 (Upto Dec.16) |   % Growth over 2013-14 |   % Growth over 2014-15 |
|------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| Net Exependiture |     16203 |     17895 |     18947 |                   17977 |                   10.44 |                    5.88 |
| Total Revenue    |     10730 |     11636 |     12940 |                    9307 |                    8.44 |                   11.2  |
| Revenue Deficit  |      5473 |      6259 |      6007 |                    8670 |                   14.35 |                   -4.02 |

Revenue achieved upto December 2016 is tentative.

Major  remedial  steps  taken  by  the  Department  to  strengthen  the  financial condition of the Department are as under :

-  The  Parcel  booking  and  handling  facilities  have  been  upgraded  to  cater  to  the increasing e Commerce market.
-  Parcel  handling  capacity  has  been  augmented  by  establishment  of  57  integrated Parcel Processing Centers and mechanizing the pickup/delivery of parcels.
-  Cash - on - Delivery facility especially for e-commerce companies has been provided as a value addition to the Speed Post and Express/Business Parcel.

-  Online Track and Trace system for Speed Post has been strengthened. In addition to the website of the Department of Posts (www.indiapost.gov.in), the status of an article can also be tracked through an android and IOS based mobile application.
-  The  facility  of  Short  Messaging  Service  (SMS)  has  been  provided  for  giving  the delivery status of an article.
-  National  Account  facility  has  been  introduced  under  Speed  Post  and  Express/ Business Parcel for contractual customers.
-  Provision has been made for packaging, shrink-wrap facilities, secure plastic seals at selected locations.
-  Application Programme  Interface (API) has been provided to the contractual customers for real time information.
-  Same day/ next day delivery of e Commerce articles in select cities has been started.
-  Railway tickets are being sold through post offices under an agreement signed with the Ministry of Railways. Presently this service is available in over 340 post offices across India.
-  Around 70 Post Shoppes have been opened with total revenue generated around Rs. 60 lakhs.
-  Government of India has introduced Sovereign Gold Bond scheme (SGB) in the Union Budget  2015-16.  During  the  six  tranches  issued  in  last  and  current  financial  year, 96215  Sovereign  Gold  Bond  applications  for  around  Rs.80  crore  were  collected through Post Offices across the country.
-  Department has started distribution of Gangajal sourced from Gangotri and Rishikesh through Post Offices as well as online through 'e Post Office'.
-  Philatelic products are also sold online through 'e Post office'.
-  Department of Posts in association with Ministry of Agriculture has started distribution of high yielding seeds and dissemination of information on new farm technologies to farmers through the village Post Offices in 14 states.
-  Tie  ups  have  been  made  with  Railway  Recruitment  Boards,  CBSE  and  various universities/institutions etc for collection of their examination fee through Post Offices.
-  In  order  to  extend  passport  services  to  our citizens  on  a  larger scale  and  to  ensure wider  area  coverage,  the  Ministry  of  External  Affairs  (MEA)  and  the  Department  of Posts (DOP) have now agreed to utilize the Head Post Offices (HPO) in the various States as Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) for delivering passport related services to the citizens. The pilot projects for this joint venture between MEA and DOP has  commenced  from  25 th January,  2017  at  Metagalli  Post  Office,  Mysore  in Karnataka and at Dahod Head Post Office in Gujarat.
-  Revamping of marketing and incentive structure of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) / Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) sales force.
-  Training of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) / Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) sales force to improve their skills.
-  Improvement of after sales service of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) / Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) by way of constant monitoring and redressal of public grievances.
-  Technology  induction  leading  to  customer  friendly  initiatives  such  as  premium  due alerts etc.

In  sum,  all  these  above  initiatives  would  go  a  long  way  to  fetch  more  business  and generate more revenue.

(c)  & (d) The revision of rates of postal products is an ongoing exercise and carried out from time to time to improve the revenue of the Department of Posts.

.

**************************