GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LOK SABHA
UNSTARREDQUESTION NO:2004
ANSWERED ON: 09.03.2016
Losses of Postal Department
MAUSAM NOOR
Will the Minister of
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYbe pleased to state:-
(a) whether postal department is running into huge losses;
(b) if so, the details of the revenue generated and expenditure incurred during the last three years and the current year, year-wise;
(c) whether the department is using outdated equipment and technology;
(d) if so, the details thereof and the initiative taken to avail newer technologies and modern equipments to improve services and prevent losses; and
(e) whether the Government proposes to install volumetric measurement system in selected post centres and if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) No, Madam, the Postal Department is running in deficit with budgetary support.
(b) The Revenue and Expenditure incurred during last three years and current year are as under-
(Amount in Crores)
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Year Revenue. Expenditure
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2012-13 9366.50 14792.38
2013-14 10730.42 16203.52
2014-15 11635.98 17894.58
2015-16
(up to Jan 16) 10286.92 15662.98
==============================
Year Revenue. Expenditure
==============================
2012-13 9366.50 14792.38
2013-14 10730.42 16203.52
2014-15 11635.98 17894.58
2015-16
(up to Jan 16) 10286.92 15662.98
(c) No, Madam.
(d) Under the IT modernization Project of the Department, which is currently under implementation, more than 97% of the Departmental Post Offices, mail offices and administrative offices (27895 out of about 28800) have been networked into a Wide Area Network (WAN) with the Data Centre Facility at Mumbai, Core Banking Solution for ‘Anytime Anywhere Banking’ has been rolled out in 18570 Post Offices, 620 ATMs have been installed, Core Insurance Solution has been rolled out in 25406 Post Offices and Solar powered Biometric Hand held devices (Micro ATMs) with wireless connectivity are being supplied to rural Branch Post Offices.
In order to modernize its mail network, the Department makes full use of Information Technology and offers online Track and Trace for Speed Post, Registered mail and Parcels; delivery confirmation is updated to the customer through SMS. Online Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used for monitoring and evaluating the performance of Speed Post, Registered mail and Parcels on a Pan-India basis.
In order to meet the requirements of the booming e-Commerce parcel business, the Department has set up and augmented parcel processing facilities at 48 centres. The centres have been computerized and, based on traffic and volumes, technological support such as conveyor belts, fork lifts, roller containers, packaging, scanning etc have been provided. The major centers are also equipped with CCTV cameras for surveillance.
The Departmental Mail Vans have been equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) for better fleet management and security of mail and parcels.
Mechanized delivery of Speed Post and parcels has been introduced in several cities along with holiday and beyond office hours delivery.
State-of-the-art Automated Mail Processing Centres (AMPCs) have been set up in Delhi and Kolkata. These centres have the capacity to process about 1 million mail pieces and small packets per day.
As a result of the constant focus on the improving the quality of services and introducing new products and services, the Department has been able to continuously increase its revenues. The e-Commerce business has seen a quantum growth of 45% in 2014-15 and 102% in the current financial year (up to 31st Jan 2016); Speed Post has seen a growth of more than 12% in the current Financial Year (up to 31st Jan 2016).
In Post Office Savings Bank, the Department has opened more than 80 Lakh Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana accounts and sold more than 2.03 Crore Kisan Vikas Patras (KVP), since the launch of these two schemes, besides increasing the number of POSB accounts to 34.24 Crores. The Department is also enrolling POSB customers under PM Jeewan Jyoti and PM Jeewan Suraksha Yojanas as well as Atal Pension Yojana; more than 1.74 Lakh such policies sold so far.
The Department is also providing several other services such as payment of MNREGS wages and social security pension through POSB accounts, booking of railway tickets, providing State Government services such as MeeSewa & Sunayasan in Andhra Pradesh and Lok Mitra services in Rajasthan, sale of gold bonds etc.
All the above mentioned initiatives have led to the continuous growth in revenues of the Department.
(e) Provision already exists in the Department to charge the postal articles taking into consideration their volumetric weight. Based on traffic and availability of the funds volumetric measurement system are being installed in phased manner at selected centres.