Lok Sabha Question No. 2967 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Utilization of Postal Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: GANESH SINGH, RITI PATHAK, KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL, KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2967 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 ND   AUGUST, 2017

## UTILIZATION OF POSTAL SERVICES

†2967.SHRI GANESH SINGH:

SHRIMATI RITI PATHAK:

SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL:

SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  utilisation  of  postal  services  has  decreased  drastically  during  the  last decade and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether  the  services  of  India  post  are  going  down  rapidly  in  comparison  to  the private courier companies;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (d) whether post offices have been upgraded/proposed to be upgraded as multi-facility providers  having  ATM/ money transfer/foreign  exchange etc.  to  attract more number of people that will make it economically viable and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the new services launched/ proposed to be launched in the post offices to make it economically viable; and
- (f) whether the Government is encouraging private investment in the postal sector and if so, the details of the private and foreign investment made during the last one year?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) No, Madam. There is no drastic decrease in utilization of postal services during the last decade. Department of Posts, India offers numerous products & services. Utilization of some of the  services  has  increased  while  utilization  of  some  of  the  services  have  varied  upward  and downward in different periods of last decade, the details of which are furnished below:

| Year    |   MONEY ORDER (in Lakhs) |   Unregistered Mails (in Crore) |   Registered Mails (in Crore) |
|---------|--------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| 2005-06 |                    957.9 |                          649.21 |                         20.85 |
| 2006-07 |                    991   |                          645.98 |                         21.73 |
| 2007-08 |                    910.5 |                          619.13 |                         19.98 |
| 2008-09 |                    866.9 |                          634.27 |                         19.82 |
| 2009-10 |                    813.5 |                          614.65 |                         19.58 |
| 2010-11 |                    577.1 |                          615.76 |                         17.79 |
| 2011-12 |                    698.7 |                          577.87 |                         19.11 |
| 2012-13 |                    871.1 |                          541.63 |                         17.93 |
| 2013-14 |                    924   |                          550.8  |                         20.08 |
| 2014-15 |                    927.4 |                          540.71 |                         20.48 |
| 2015-16 |                    797.7 |                          561.49 |                         19.83 |

In  the  above  table,  it  can  be  seen  that  there  is  no  drastic  decrease  in  utilization  of  the above  service.  The  Money  Order  service  has  decreased  due  to  emergence  of  ATMs,  Mobile Wallets, Core Banking etc. However, there is a gradual decrease in the volume of unregistered mails.  The  reason  of  this  decline  is  basically  decrease  of  personal  communications  due  to Mobile,  Internet,  e-Mails.  Physical  Business  Communications  have  also  decreased  due  to  the above reasons.  There is a slight variation in respect of Registered Mails because people prefer Speed Post Service which provides faster delivery of their articles.

(b) No, Madam. The Services of India Post are not going down in comparison to the private courier  companies  in  the  country.  In  contrast,  the  market  share  of  Speed  Post  in  the  overall courier  market  has  increased.    A  Comptroller  and  Auditor  General  (CAG)  study  has  found private couriers deliver only 90% of letters compared to 99% by speed post. It is also added that in  major  cities,  the  performance  of  speed  post  is  faster  and  more  reliable.  The  postal  service delivers  99%  of  letters  through  speed  post  within  the  stipulated  time  as  compared  to  92%  by private courier services.  A study survey was also carried out by M/s Indian Market Research Bureau  (IMRB)  International  in  this  regard  in  2013  and  as  per  this  survey;  the  total  courier industry in India is valued at Rs. 5,246 crore in 2012-13. The IMRB study brings out that the share of Speed Post in the overall courier market has increased from 15.1%-18.3% in the year 2010-11 to 16.7%-19.8% in the year 2011-2012 and 17.4% - 20.2% in the year 2012-13. In the subsequent years also, the traffic of Speed Post registered an increase from 36.99 crore in 201314 to 39.87 crore in 2014-15 to 41.43 crore in 2015-2016 and 46.31 crore in 2016-17. Likewise, the revenue of Speed Post also increased from Rs. 1372.21 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 1495.21 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 1600.45 crore in 2015-16 and Rs. 1774.02 in 2016-17.

- (c) Does not arise in view of (b) above.

(d) Yes, Madam. The number of functional Post Offices has increased from 1,52,792 in the year  1994-95  to  1,54,910  in  the  year  2016-17  which  shows  that  the  use  of  Post  Offices  has increased  in  the  country.  The  total  number  of  Departmental  Post  Offices  in  the  country, presently, is 25,565 which are providing multi-facilities to the public. The Department has rolled out Core Banking Solution (CBS) in 23,091 Post Offices and ATMs have been installed at 968 locations;  Debit  cards  have  been  issued  to  Post  Office  Saving  Bank  customers.  Rural  Branch Post Offices are being upgraded by providing information and communication Technology (ICT) enabled  hand  held  devices  for  online  banking  transaction  and  payment  of  Electronic  Money Orders (eMOs). 31,393 Rural ICT and hand held devices have been deployed in 14 States as on 24.07.2017. Money remittance service to customers in India from around 195 countries on a real time basis  is  being  operated  in  association  with  Western  Union  and  Money  Gram  from  9,942 locations. Facilities like electronic Money Orders (eMO) service in 25,469 Post Offices, instant Money  Order  service  (iMO)  in  16,977  Post  Offices  and  Mobile  Money  Transfer  Service (MMTS) in 15,000 Post Offices  are  provided  to  the  public.  Besides,  facilities  like  PLI/RPLI, MGNREGS Payments, Cash on Delivery, e-Payment, Bill Mail service, Indian Postal Orders, Speed  Post,  Business  Post,  Express  Parcel,  Business  Parcel  Logistics  Posts,  shops@post,  Jan Surksha scheme are provided to attract more customers & make all Post Offices economically viable.  Furthermore,  the  Department  constantly  reviews  its  products  and  services  from  the customers' perspective and market requirements and diversifies its product portfolio in order to provide efficient and customer-oriented services and this has further enhanced the relevance of the post offices. DoP has launched e-iPO in 2013 to enable Indian Citizens living abroad to pay RTI fee online. Further facility was extended to Indian Citizens w.e.f 13.02.2014. Deptt. is in process to initiate e-iPO for other denominations of Rs. 20, 50 and 100/- which may be used for different purposes.

- (e) Department of Posts has introduced a number  of business products as part of diversification of its activities in order to leverage the vast retail and delivery network:
-  Passport  Seva  Kendras  are  being  setup  in  selected  Post  Offices  in  collaboration  with MEA for providing passport services through Post Offices
-  Aadhaar  Updation  and  Enrolment  Centers  are  being  setup  in  selected  Post  Offices  in collaboration with UIDAI for providing Aadhaar related services.
-  Acceptance of payment of utility bills e.g. Electricity, water, telephone etc.
-  Acceptance of Examination Fee for various institutions
-  Booking of Railway Tickets
-  Verification of addresses etc
-  Sale of Philatelic items through e-post office
-  My Stamp (Personalized & Customized)
-  A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Department of Posts and the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) on 4 th Nov 2016 to leverage Post  Offices  as  Employment  Registration  Centres  for  unemployed  youth.  The  pilot project  was  launched  in  95  Head  Post  Offices  in  AP  &  Telangana  on  12-02-2017  at Hyderabad.
- (f) No, Madam.

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