Lok Sabha Question No. 2851 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-03
Subject: Income Generated through Postal Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Krupal Balaji Tumane, Bhavana Gawali (Patil)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2851 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3 RD  AUGUST, 2022

## INCOME GENERATED THROUGH POSTAL SERVICES

## †2851. SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE: SHRIMATI BHAVANA PUNDALIKRAO GAWALI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the services provided by Department of Post in the country during the last three years along with the revenue earned/being earned from these services, service/year-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has set any target to earn revenue from postal services during the current financial year and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the infrastructure facilities and the number of personnel including Postmaster and Postman are adequate in the Department of Post at present;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and whether the Government is considering to recruit personnel in much more number;
- (e) whether the Government has started postal services using latest technology to deliver mails and parcels in various parts of country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether the usage of various postal services has reduced and if so, the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

- (a) Department of Posts provides following services:-
- (i) Mail and Parcel Services
- (ii) Post office Saving schemes
- (iii) Money Order and Indian Postal Order
- (iv) Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal life Insurance
- (v) Other services include Post Office Passport Seva Kendra, Aadhar Enrolments/Updation facility, Railway  Passenger  Reservation  Facility,  Common  Service  Centre,  sale  of  Sovereign  Gold Bonds, Utility bills payment etc.

Revenue earned from these services in the last three years is as follows:

| Serial Number   | Services                                                   |   2019-2020 |   2020-2021 |   2021-2022 |
|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| 1               | Mail and Parcel Services                                   |     4056.26 |     2899.67 |     3649.81 |
| 2               | Post office Saving schemes                                 |     8660.05 |     7055.79 |     6114.47 |
| 3               | Money Order and Indian Postal Order                        |      224.25 |      193.89 |      117.94 |
| 4               | Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal life Insurance etc. |      768.4  |      933.87 |     1196.29 |
| 5               | Other services and sundries                                |      617.64 |      483.15 |      971.29 |
|                 | Total                                                      |    14326.6  |    11566.4  |    12049.8  |

(Rupees in Crore)

- (b) A revenue target of Rs.14725.87 Crore has been set for the Department of Posts for the current financial year i.e  2022-23.
- (c) Adequate manpower and infrastructure facilities have been provided in the Post Offices.
- (d) Following manpower is available in Department of Posts in various categories including postmasters and postmen.

| Category of Post   |   Group 'A' |   Group 'B' Gazetted |   Group 'B' Non- Gazetted |   Group 'C' |
|--------------------|-------------|----------------------|---------------------------|-------------|
| Present            |         275 |                 2471 |                      3358 |      158667 |

Additional  infrastructure  is  provided  as  per  requirement  from  time  to  time.  Department  is  also leveraging technology to increase the output and smooth delivery of services. Recruitment is a continuous process. Vacancies due to retirement, promotion to higher grade, deputation to other cadres, etc. are filled up as per relevant provisions.

- (e) Department is committed to provide better customer services by leveraging the technology. More than 1.29 Lakh Branch Post Offices in the rural areas have been provided with Hand Held Point of Sale Devices for providing mail, parcel and banking services. Further, Department is also using a Postman Mobile application to provide real time delivery update to the customers. A robust track and trace system is in place to  provide  end  to  end  visibility  for  all  class  of  accountable  mails.  Application  Programming  Interface integration  facility  is  available  for  bulk  customer  for  exchange  of  data  related  to  parcel.  Additionally, Department also facilitate the customers through SMS alerts regarding status of articles.
- (f) Though there is a decline in the traffic of letter mail due to mobile and internet penetration and more services being offered in online environment, there is an increase in the Speed Post and International Mail Business of the Department. Total Speed Post traffic has increased from 21.14 crore in the year 2008-09 to 42.92 Crore in 2021-22 and accountable International Mail Traffic has increased from around 50.72 lakh in 2020  to  around  81.00  lakh  in  2021.  In  order  to  increase  the  use  of  the  postal  services,  Department continuously reviews its offerings and takes appropriate action to offer value addition to make them more customer and business centric. In the recent past Department has also set up dedicated bulk mail/ Parcel Processing Centres and established Nodal Delivery centres for mechanisation of the Parcel delivery and increase the share of business.

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