GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTMENT OF POSTS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 371
TO BE ANSWERED ON 18TH NOVEMBER, 2016
UPWARD REVISION IN RATES OF POSTAL PRODUCTS
371. SHRIMATI WANSUK SYIEM:
Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:
(a) whether in an attempt to prune annual revenue deficit, the Department of Posts has proposed a slew of steps that could net an additional Rs 1000 crore in earnings through an upward revision in rates of several postal products;
(b) whether a similar revision was made in 2001-02, and expenses have risen by 262 per cent since the last revision;
(c) the extent of increase in rates of postal products; and
(d) whether India Posts has benefited from boom in e-commerce deliveries of COD consignments from country's top online sellers by sprucing up its parcel delivery services?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) to (c) Yes Sir. The attempts to prune revenue deficit is an ongoing exercise and Department of Posts has been making continuous efforts to curb its revenue deficit. The revision of rates of postal products is also a part of the ongoing exercise to improve the revenue of the Department of Posts.
Yes Sir. Last revision of postal tariff had taken place in 2001-2002. It is further added that the total working expense of the department was 5194.60 crore in 2001-02 which has grown up to ` 19654.67 crore in 2015-16 i.e. 278.37 % increase.
(d) (i) Department of Posts offers its existing products and services like Speed Post, Express Parcel/Business Parcel to all customers including eCommerce companies to provide delivery solution for their eCommerce business. Department`s revenue has been showing a consistent growth in these services as follows:
Year
|
Speed Post
|
Express/Business
|
2013-14
|
1372.21
|
77.63
|
2014-15
|
1495.21
|
112.47
|
2015-16
|
1605.25
|
149.00
|
2016-17(UptoSeptember 2016)
|
783.39
|
80.84
|
(ii) Department of Posts has also collected and paid Rs. 1700 crores to the eCommerce companies till 31.10.2016 since introduction of Cash-on-Delivery facility i.e. 02.12.2013.
In order to improve delivery of parcels, including e-commerce parcels, the Department has issued guidelines to all postal circles for implementation of nodal mechanized delivery.
