India Post collects Rs 800 cr from COD facility
Written By Admin on November 1, 2015 | Sunday, November 01, 2015
Emerging as a leading distribution channel for the e-commerce sector,
India Post collected over Rs 800 crore through cash-on-delivery (CoD)
facility and is looking to further strengthen its position in the
segment by starting a pilot service for same-day delivery.
The postal department has also earned around Rs 70-80 crore through speed post in the year 2014-15 from e-commerce business.
"Since the introduction of CoD facility, the Department of Post has
collected more than Rs 800 crore and remitted to customers," an official
said.
In order to generate more business, the postal department is
reviewing its service features to attract more number of e-commerce
customers, the official further said.
"As part of this exercise, the Department of Posts has started pilot
for same/next day delivery in identified cities for identified PIN
codes. A national account facility has also been introduced under Speed
Post," he added.
The CoD facility was launched in December 2013 to cater to the needs
of customers and benefits from the growing e-commerce market.
The CoD has emerged as one of the most sought after services for
e-commerce entities. Customers in the country tend to prefer CoD as the
online payment modes are yet to catch up in many parts of the country
while many people are not comfortable with advance payments for products
purchased online.
The initiatives taken by the department for parcel segment have resulted in revenue of Rs 105.51 crore in 2014-15.
With dwindling letter or document traffic, the department is focusing
on the fast-growing parcel segment and various measures have been taken
to modernise the department under the Digital India initiative.
As part of initiatives to leverage the e-commerce sector, the
department has forged tie-ups with leading online market places like
Snapdeal, Amazon, Paytm and Yepme for parcel delivery and has also set up modernised 48 centres to handle the packages.
The e-commerce sector in India is growing at 47 per cent CAGR and
India Post is the only delivery agency with a pan-India reach, the
official said.
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier said
that India Post with the world's largest postal network was best suited
to offer delivery services to e-commerce firms.
The Minister had suggested that India Post should strive to become the largest player in the e-commerce segment.
The Postal Department has 1,54,882 post offices, of which 1,39,182
are in rural areas. The department employs around 4,60,000 personnel and
handles close to six billion mail pieces in a year.
Source:Business-standard.com
No comments:
Post a Comment