Dear Comrades,
Imagine
the postman in your area bringing courier from your online shopping, where
other private courier’s hesitate to deliver. With a massive reach of 150,000
post offices all-around India that has 89 percent concentration in
rural areas, Indian Post can bring massive turbulence in the
e-commerce market and that’s what India Post aims to do in the near future. In
its path to rebirth India Post has launched two new parcel services – Express
Parcel service and Business Parcel service along with Cash on
Delivery (COD) option that competes directly with private courier companies
mainly BlueDart, Aramex and other
India
Post Express Parcel service
India Post Express Parcel service is available for both retailers and business customers
that offers fast delivery of products/parcels through air mail or any
other fastest mean available. It provides Door-to-Door service with door
delivery irrespective of parcels weight. In addition India Post offers Cash
on Delivery for the Express parcel service with maximum consignment value
up to Rs 50,000. Main advantage of this service is that parcels booked
under the services will be delivered at most in 72 hours.
Looking on to the charges, Express
Parcel service starts from Rs 30 for local service, Rs 50 for delivery
within the sate, Rs 60 for neighboring state and Rs 80 for delivery to other
sates, for items weighing up to 500 grams. For additional 500
grams up to 5 Kg rates charged from Rs 8 to Rs 20 and for every additional 500
grams above 5 Kg will be charges between Rs 10 to Rs 22.
Currently the service is available
for booking and delivery in limited cities – Agra, Bangalore,
Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi (NCR), Patna, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur,
Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune, Parwanoo, Shillong, Surat,
Thiruvananthapuram.
India
Post Business Parcel service
On the other hand India Post
Business Parcel service is contractual service, designed to suit
requirement of business customers. Here the minimum chargeable consignment
weight is 2 Kg and up to maximum of 35 Kg and offers Door-to-Door service.
Unlike Express service which currently has limited reach, Business Parcel can
be booked for delivery from any Post Office in the country providing a nationwide
coverage. This service also offers Cash on Delivery on consignment
which provides a collection of amount up to Rs 50,000 at the time of delivery.
Tariff for Business Parcels starts
at Rs 45 for local service, Rs 80 for delivery within the sate, Rs 100
for delivery in neighboring state and Rs 115 for delivery in other sates, for
parcel weighing up to 2 Kg. Every additional 1 Kg up to 5 Kg with
be charged with Rs 12 to Rs 30 and Every additional 1Kg above 5 Kg will be
charged from Rs 14 to Rs 32 respectively.
Salient
features of Express and Business Parcel service include -
- Fast and secure transmission by Air mail/land
- Safe and secure handling
- Fast and assured Door to Door delivery
- Credit facility and flexible payment option for bulk customers
- Collection of Cash on Delivery
- Customized key account management
- Weight limit up to 35 Kg
“Many e-commerce companies have
shown interest to use parcel services of India Post. They have been demanding
for more value addition to existing parcel service. Hence, we are launching
Express Parcel and Business Parcel service.” commented P. Gopinath,
Secretary, Department of Post (DoP).
Amazon
India Partnership with India Post
Another interesting news coming up
is the partnership of Amazon India with India Post, who
has already started a pilot testing the postal service. Through this
partnership Amazon aims to reach its presence to the deepest parts of India,
where only India Post have service. This will intensify competition in the
emerging Indian e-commerce market now ruled by Flipkart, Snapdeal and eBay.
Amazon is also told to be piloting the Cash on Delivery service through
India Post which accounts for two-thirds of ecommerce transactions happening in
India.
“We are trying to add
capabilities like cash on delivery and reverse logistics. Consumers don’t want
to make an upfront payment. We are developing software to start the cash-on-delivery
service with Amazon,” a senior India Post official told Economic Times.
Currently most of the private
courier companies neglect the outskirts of towns, villages and other deepest
parts of India, but with the emergence of India Post that has widest reach in
any part of India can bring dramatic changes to whole e-commerce industry. In
addition, this partnership will also provide a rebirth for staggering
150-year-old India Post that was going down due to the country’s telecom
revolution and massive internet adoption. India Post wants to be the
center of Indian e-commerce revolution, so it aims to invest about Rs 100
crore in the next few years to set up warehouses for e-commerce
packages.
If the plans work out for Amazon then it can reach the top of the e-commerce industry in India just like in US and for India Post it will be a new life blood.
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