Why India Post could become e-commerce’s most potent delivery partner

Why India Post could become e-commerce’s most potent delivery partner

Sharadamani Amma, an 87-year-old great grandmother, remembers a time when the sight of mail runners would cause a great deal of excitement in the small Kerala village she grew up in. The appearance of these postal employees, who carried mail between post offices on foot, meant a letter or money order or, god forbid, a telegram—a sure sign of ill news.

But those days are long gone. The postmen are no longer held in high regard in most of the country, and few in the current generation would have even stepped into a post office, at least in urban India.

New age e-commerce companies want to change this. The likes of Amazon and Snapdeal already have pilot projects running with India Post, while newspaper reports suggest that Flipkart is set to follow suit.

But what makes India Post, seen by many as a relic of a bygone era, so attractive to these online portals?

UNBEATABLE NETWORK

India Post’s network of post offices in India is incomparable. None of the private courier or logistics firms can even come close say experts and e-commerce firms. “India Post has an unmatched network that is critical for the growth of e-commerce in India,” says Ashish Chitravanshi, Vice President of operations at Snapdeal. A view echoed by Amazon.in. “Through India Post’s extensive network, Amazon India is able to service over 19,000 pin-codes through 140,000 post-offices across all 35 states and union territories in India,” says Samuel Thomas, Director of transportation at Amazon India.

This network covers about 25,000 pin codes, while even large private courier companies like DTDC reach only about 10,000.

RURAL DEPTH

While the pan India network is impressive, it is India Post’s rural depth that gives it an edge. “No one can reach rural areas like India Post,” says Manish Saigal, Managing Director of advisory services firm Alvarez & Marsal India. Manish says India Post’s importance will only increase when non-metro India’s contribution to e-commerce sales surpasses that of metro India. “The top 20 cities contribute 60% in value terms right now. The pendulum will shift the other way pretty soon,” adds Manish.

The pendulum has already swung the other way for some e-tailers. Over 70% of orders for Snapdeal are from smaller cities and towns, according to Snapdeal’s VP-Operations Ashish. “The growing popularity of online shopping in these non-metro centers presents a unique set of logistical challenges like spread out population, high km/delivery factor and high cost of setting up delivery infrastructure,” explains Ashish.

ADVANTAGE INDIA POST

It is not just the e-commerce companies that stand to gain from a partnership with India Post. The revenue potential for India Post is quite high.

The central government agency is already handling over 1.5 lakh e-commerce deliveries a day, according to industry estimates, making India Post one of the largest delivery partners for the industry. The Business Development and Marketing Directorate of India Post, which handles delivery of parcels like those of e-commerce companies, earned revenue of Rs 1961.76 crore between April and December last year.

“A lot of people dismiss India Post but they are doing mind-boggling work on the ground for e-commerce already,” says Manish.

An advertisement put out by India Post showed the department has handled Rs 500 crore of cash-on-delivery (CoD) in the financial year 2014-15.

However, Alvarez & Marsal’s Manish says India Post needs to do more in terms of technology adoption. This is especially important for CoD. India Post does have years of experience handling and delivering cash, in the form of money orders. However, CoD unlike money order requires postmen and women to collect cash and not hand over cash. E-commerce companies also expect this cash to be remitted into their accounts daily and further expect transparent and instant system updates.

This technology integration between India Post and e-commerce companies is beginning to happen. “We have integrated Amazon and Postal systems to electronically enable information sharing,” says Amazon India’s Samuel.

There are examples globally of national postal departments taking advantage of the growth of online retail. Ankur Bisen, senior Vice President at retail advisory firm Technopak, cites the examples of Deutsche Post (Germany) and Royal Mail (UK). “Both these companies were state sponsored mail carriers and realised the diminishing importance of postage. Both of them have successfully re-modelled themselves to suit the emerging e-commerce needs,” says Ankur. An AFP report in March stated that Deutsche Post’s e-commerce parcel division saw its revenues rise by 2.6% to reach 15.7 billion euros (Rs 1.11 lakh crore) in FY 2014.

“If they can marry India Post’s local knowledge and network with technology, they can become unbeatable. But they need to do this fast,” says Manish.

If this succeeds, then Sharadamani Amma’s great granddaughter Mythili will also soon wait with bated breath for the postman to call at her Bengaluru flat.

(Sources of  data and information shown in graphics: India Post annual report, India Post advertisement, Amazon India, DTDC website, news reports)

Courtesy :  http://yourstory.com/2015/06/india-post-ecommerce/

REVISION OF CRITERIA FOR GRANTING OF NFSG TO ORGANIZED GROUP "A" CENTRAL SERVICE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

 IMMEDIATE RELATION, GUEST, DEPENDENT, SUBLETTING, SHARING ETC. - AMENDMENT TO ALLOTMENT OF GOVERNMENT RESIDENCES RULES CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

DRIVES ARE NOT OPEN BY DOUBLE CLICK IN WINDOWS

When you double click to open C:\, D:\ or any other drive in My Computer and the drive doesn’t open and shows “Open With” option. That means your computer is infected with virus.

How to resolve drive opening issue due to virus infection?

When your computer is infected with virus, sometimes it creates an AUTORUN.INF file in your computer drives which causes drive opening problem by double click.

This AUTORUN.INF file is a read only and hidden system file that is created in your drives. This types of virus also disable the “folder options”setting so that you can’t access hidden system files.  This is intentionally done by the virus in order to protect itself.

There are so many methods to resolve this issue.

Method-1:

Remove all the AUTORUN.INF files from each drive and restart your computer. This can only be done by command prompt because virus has disabled “folder option” feature in the computer.

Step-1:

Open Task Manager using “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” option or Right click on Taskbar > click on Task Manager. Now end process wscript.exe if running. Then terminate explorer.exe process.

Step-2:

Once both wscript.exe & explorer.exe processes are terminated, Click on File menu in Task Manager and click on New Task (Run) option.

Type “cmd” into the open box and click on OK button. Once the command prompt is opened, issue following commands to delete AUTORUN.INF files from your drives.

del c:\autorun.* /f /s /q /a

del d:\autorun.* /f /s /q /a

C:\ & D:\ are drive letters on Windows System. If you have more drives or partitions then issue above command by changing drive letter as mentioned below.

del e:\autorun.* /f /s /q /a

Step-3:

Click on File menu in Task Manager and click on New Task (Run) option.

Type “regedit” into the open box and click on OK button. Once the registry is opened, navigate the following registry key and check the value name and value data for the key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

The value name and value data is mentioned below, location of userinit may be different in case of different OS drive.

Userinit= C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe,

Note: The value data in above path must have a , after path.

If the problem is not resolved and you face the same problem again after PC restart then below method will definitely resolve the issue.

METHOD-2:

STEP-1:

Go to START > RUN > Type “regedit” and press enter button to open registry.

Step-2:

Now press Ctrl + F to find the keys, values and data. Now write mountpoints2 in search box and click on find next button.

Once you find the mountpoints2, delete it from the registry.

Step-3:

Press F3 to search the same value till the end of the registry entry. If you get the same mountpoints2, delete the entry and press F3 again till all the mountpoints2 entries are deleted from registry.

BONUS:

HOW TO RESOLVE ANY VIRUS PROBLEM?

There is no magic at all, just follow some simple steps every time when you want to remove virus from your computer. There are so many methods but here we are discussing a simple method.

Step-1:

Install any antivirus software in your computer which you think is reliable.

Step-2:

Turn off monitoring and restart your computer in SAFE mode.

Step-3:

Now scan your computer with your latest antivirus and remove all the viruses from your computer. Once the virus is removed, just restart your computer in Normal mode and turn on monitoring again.

If you liked this article and helped you to resolve your “Drives are not opening by Double Click” issue, don’t forget to share with your friends or colleagues.

Courtesy : http://potools.blogspot.in/

Deadline for Exchanging Your Pre-2005 Currency Notes Extended

The deadline to exchange pre-2005 currency notes, including those of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations at banks, has been extended to December 31, 2015. The earlier deadline was June 30.

This is the second time the RBI has extended the deadline.

Seeking cooperation for withdrawing pre-2005 currency notes from circulation, the RBI had asked the public to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them.

A previous deadline of January 1 had earlier been extended.

All pre-2005 notes continue to remain a legal tender. These notes can be exchanged for their full value at the bank branches.

It is easy to identify pre-2005 notes as they do not have the year of printing mentioned on their reverse side. In notes issued post 2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom.

The RBI has said it wants to remove these notes from the market because they have fewer security features compared to bank notes printed after 2005.

Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

It is standard international practice to withdraw old series notes.

Source : MSN

Public asked not to give tip to Postal employees

CHENNAI: The postmaster general of Chennai city region has appealed to the public not to pay cash to postal employees as a tip for receiving services from the department. 

This practice is reportedly common among senior citizens when they receive their old age pension money orders. 

"Please refrain from paying baksheesh. If postal department employees adopt a practice of deducting some money and then paying you, do not accept," said a release issued by postmaster General (Chennai City region) Mervin Alexander. 

  

Source:-The Times of India

Employment News : 27th June - 3rd July 2015

 

1.       Railway Recruitment Board. Name of Post –unior Engineer, Depot Material Superintendent, Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant, Sr. Section Engineer and Chief Depot Material Superintendent. 
No. of Vacancies – Over 2000
Last Date – 26.07.2015

2.       Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. 
Name of Post – Professor cum Principal, Assistant Professor, Technical Officer, Officer-in-charge etc.
No. of Vacancies – 22

Last Date - 03.07.2015 

3.       Reserve Bank of India. 
Name of Post – Assistants
No. of Vacancies - 504
Last Date - 03.07.2015 

4.       Central University of Jammu, J&K.Name of Post-Finance Officer, Librarian, Deputy Librarian, Public, Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, etc. 
Agrovet Service Representatives
No. of Vacancies - 39
Last Date –15.07.2015

5.       National Technical Research Organisation. Name of Post – Scientist ‘G’, Chief Engineer, Deputy Director of Accounts, Assistant Director of Accounts, Accounts Officer, Technical Officer, etc.
No. of Vacancies - 159
Last Date–before 45 days from the date of publication.

6.       Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi.Name of Post– Assistant Professor
No. of Vacancies – 54 
Last Date–within 21 days from the date of publication. 

 Source : http://employmentnews.gov.in/

Hearing Aids: Revision of rate and guidelines for reimbursement under CGHS & CSMA Rules

Revision of rate and guideline for reimbursement of expenses on purchase of Hearing AIDS Under CSMA Rules,1944 and CGHS

No.S.14025/10/2002/MS

Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Department of Health and Family Welfare

****

Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi

Dated the 26th May, 2015

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Revision of rate and guideline for reimbursement of expenses on purchase of Hearing AIDS Under CSMA Rules,1944 and CGHS – Regarding

With reference to the above mentioned subject the undersigned is directed to refer to the Office Memorandum of even no dated 21.03.2012 , 17.11.2006 and 28.10.2002 and OM No S.14025/36/93/MS dated 26.03.94 and 17.08.99 and to state that on the basis of recommendation of an Expert Committee, it has been decided to revise the rates and guidelines for hearing aids to be reimbursed under CS(MA) Rules, 1944 and CGHS.

2. The revised ceiling rates fixed for various types of hearing-aids (for one ear) are as under:-

Body worn/Pocket type Rs.3000/-

Analogue BTE Digital – Rs. 7000/-

BTE Digital Rs. 15000/-

ITC/CIC Rs. 20000/-

The cost of hearing aids shall include all taxes in including VAT and Shall carry 3 year warranty. The cost of analogue BTE/Digital BTE/ITC/CIC type hearing aid. shall also include the cost of hearing mould.

3. Beneficiaries covered under CS (MA) Rules /CGHS shall be eligible to obtain hearing aid as per the following guidelines:

(i). Patients/Beneficiaries should be properly referred to CGHS/Government hospital ENT specialist from the parent CGHS wellness centre (A computerized referral printout should be made wherever computerization has been done).

(ii). It would be mandatory to carry CGHS Beneficiary’s ID card (in original) whenever the CGHS beneficiaries visit the CGHS/Government ENT specialist for consultation and Audiometric test.

(iii). The ENT specialist of CGHS /Government hospital shall then recommend a hearing aid on basis of Audiometric and Audiological assessment, specifying the type of hearing aid most suited for the Beneficiary. The ‘Audiogram report’ shall be authenticated by the ENT specialist/Consultant of the CGHS/Government hospital.

4. The permission to procure hearing aid shall be granted by the ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR(Zonal) of CGI IS-ZONAL OFFICE in case of CGHS pensioner beneficiaries, and by the HEAD OF DEPARTMENT/OFFICE in case of serving employees and CGHS beneficiaries of Autonomous bodies on the basis of Recommendation of a CGHS/Government ENT specialist, and an ‘undertaking’ that the beneficiary has not been reimbursed the cost of hearing – aid in the preceding five years.

5. Reimbursement claim shall be submitted to CGI IS ZONAL OFFICE through the CMO – Incharge of the Concerned dispensary by CGHS Pensioner beneficiaries in the prescribed medical reimbursement claim for-along with the following documents :-

a) Referral letter from parent CGHS Wellness Centre (computerized Slip where computerization is done already).

b) Copy of ‘prescription’ of ENT consultant (CGIIS/Govt.Hospital) with the ‘Audiogram’ report duly authenticated by the treating ENT consultant (CGI IS/Govt).

c) Copy of CGHS Card.

d) Bill/Receipt (in original) carrying details of the hearing – aid seller i.e. NAME, QUALIFICATION AND RCI/MCI REGISTRATION NUMBER of the hearing – aid seller.

e) The ‘permission letter’ to purchase hearing – aid (in original).

f) Empty Box/boxes or the Carton(s) with the label showing details of the hearing aid supplied.

In case of the other beneficiaries, the medical claim shall be submitted to the concerned Ministry/ Department /Office. Reimbursement shall be limited to the ceiling rate or actual cost of the hearing – aid, whichever is less.

6. Records of permissions granted for procurement of hearing-aids shall be maintained by CGHS in respect of pensioner CGHS beneficiaries and by the concerned Ministry/Department/ Office in respect of other beneficiaries.

7. Replacement of hearing-aid may be permitted after 5 years on the basis of condemnation certificate issued by a technical expert and on approval of CGHS/Government ENT Surgeon. Maintenance and repair will be the responsibility of the beneficiary.

8. These orders shall supercede all the earlier orders issued on the subject.

9. The revised rates and guidelines shall come into force from the date of issue and shall be valid for a period of two year or till further revision, whichever is earlier.

l0. This issues with the approval of Integrated Finance Division of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

(Sunil Kumar Gupta)

Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

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Revitalising postal finance

Editorial, Saturday, June 27, 2015

Two separate news items on postal-based finance have appeared in two different newspapers in two countries -- Bangladesh and India-- within a week.

The Bangladeshi newspaper depicts a sad picture of the country's postal financing. It reports that despite being cheaper, electronic money transfer (EMT) service through the post offices is falling behind the private sector operators. The annual transaction of postal-based EMT has declined to Tk 5.13 billion this fiscal year from Tk 10.74 billion in the previous year.

The Indian newspaper presents an optimistic move in reviving India's postal financing activities. It reveals that Indian post offices are likely to turn into payment banks soon. The Indian government is considering using the massive network of Indian postal services to bring the poor and marginal people under the umbrella of formal financial services, especially the Jana Dhan Programme. The news item also says that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may formally provide payment licence to give postal banking a big push. Indian finance minister, in his budget speech for FY'16 budget, disclosed the plan in February this year.

In order to make Indian postal financing widespread, automated teller machine (ATM) was introduced last year with a mega plan to cover 2,800 post offices by 2015. It has also been planned to set up some 135 thousand micro-ATMs in rural post offices.

It is interesting to note that in South Asia, Bangladesh is actually the pioneer in introducing postal ATM service. The country introduced postal cash card service in 2012 and in 2013 this card became eligible for withdrawing money from different ATM booths. Having co-branded ATM service with Sonali Bank, the largest commercial bank in the country, postal cash card holders have access to ATMs. Moreover, some 3,000 ATMs of 33 commercial banks are also useable for postal cash card through the Q-Cash payment gateway.

Using the wide network of post offices was initially mooted by the Western Union, the international money-transfer company, as an efficient method of dealing with the remittance money sent by Bangladeshis from abroad. In 2008, Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) formally introduced the service with 400 post offices across the country. The network was later extended.

The popular money order system has also been converted into electronic form to make it easier and faster. This EMT of post offices was awarded 'mBillionth Award South Asia 2011' for introduction of mobile money transfer service. Response to this service was huge after introduction. Total transactions jumped to Tk 23 billion in FY'12 from Tk 7.26 billion in FY'11. In FY'13, the amount was around 22 billion. But in FY'14, it came down to Tk 10.74 billion. The downward trend has continued in the current year.

Newspaper reports identified the aggressive marketing of private players as the major reason behind the decline of postal EMT transactions. Bkash, a Brac Bank initiative, is now the market leader while many private commercial banks are also providing the service and in some cases it is a door-to-door service. Bkash has innumerable agents throughout the country and anybody can open an account with Bkash for personal transaction. This service is available seven days a week and is available for almost 24 hours. There is no need to go to fixed service points as is the case with post offices. Post offices have weekly and other public holidays and so they are not in a position to deliver services 24x7.

Moreover, maximum post offices in Bangladesh have lack of modern facilities and are situated in old buildings or vulnerable premises. These pose a security risk for keeping big cash. There is also shortage of manpower, especially manpower equipped with technology. A large section of the workforce in the postal department is not comfortable with the quick service delivery mechanism. Many of them even find technology-based initiative a threat to their jobs. Typical bureaucracy and unwelcome attitude also discourage people to go and avail EMT service in post offices.

The postal authority is aware of these hindrances. Some initiatives were taken to overcome these but without much success. For example, appointing agent service is necessary to make the EMT vibrant. But postal authority is yet to do so. 

The proposed budget for the postal department is Tk 7.30 billion in FY'16 which was Tk 5.84 billion in FY'15. But major part of the budget is revenue expenditure. The finance minister, in his budget speech, however, said that the programme for "transforming 8,000 rural post offices and 500 union post offices to E-centres is underway." He also mentioned that e-centres are being introduced in 174 post offices on a pilot basis in the new fiscal year, and that another 250 post offices would be brought under the process.

Against this backdrop, it is important to take well-planned strategy to energise the postal financing system. Banks and financial intuitions of the country have some 9,000 branches across the country while the number of post offices is around 9886. Post office network is wider than the banking network. All it needs are some reforms and restructuring which won't cost much.

In India, there are some 1,55,015 post offices while the number of formal bank branches is 85,000. Thus post office network in India is clearly wider than banking network. That's why Indian government is trying to use the post office network which spreads all over the country including rural areas and distant parts.

Bangladesh can take cue from the Indian move in reviving postal finance. Despite Bangladesh Bank's move to encourage mobile banking and other initiatives like 'bank account of 10 taka', there is a big informal and unauthorised network of money transfer across the country. Compared to such informal network, postal network is still believed to be safer and trustworthy. Even the government's budgetary support could be easily transferred through post offices. Post offices have been maintaining postal savings bank system for long and so it should not be very difficult to turn post offices into payment banks.