Local connect

If you haven't been to a post office in a while, you'll be amazed by the initiatives underway.

Checked out the wares at a post office lately? There are the usual stamps, envelopes, post-cards, but on sale is also a lot of new stuff "" mutual funds, government bonds, insurance policies, pre-paid vouchers of telecom companies, even scratch cards of BharatMatrimony. Not just that, you can pay your bills or send money anywhere in the world from the post office.

Clearly, a quiet revolution has been brewing in the department of posts. Services are increasingly becoming more diverse, there is greater operational efficiency and new customer-utility channels are being created to exploit the last-mile connectivity offered by the department's network of more-than-1.5 lakh post offices.

Further, the department has entered into alliances with a variety of corporates and government offices, displaying a new flexibility in meeting the needs of its partners. "We would like post offices to become a one-stop shop for products and services, especially in the rural areas," says John Samuel, general manager, business development and marketing directorate (BDMD).

Take the year-old alliance with BharatMatrimony, which now involves 700 head post offices in urban centres, and will soon spread to sub post offices in semi-urban areas. "As a matrimonial services provider, the trust that a postman commands was one factor in our decision to ally with the department," says Uday Zokarkar, business head, BharatMatrimony.

"The postal department's extensive network was the other." The transaction model is fee-based "" Rs 140 for every scratch-card sold. In Tamil Nadu, where the programme was launched, off-takes have been satisfactory at 5-6 a day, reports Zokarkar.

It is the BDMD within the department of posts that is the driving force behind initiatives like this one. Set up in 1996, the directorate was reorganised two years ago and now has representatives down to the divisional level, who don't need to seek head-office approval for every little thing as in other government departments, but have the autonomy to negotiate with corporates, devise services, fix rates or commissions, and market these "business packages".

Every unit, right down to the smallest branch post office in the villages, has a business target, and there are regular workshops and seminars, both within the department, and outside, with premier business institutes like the IIMs, to brainstorm on new strategies.

As officials explain, this is the only way the department can survive given the competition from private courier services and declining budgetary allocations.

No wonder there has been such a plethora of innovative business packages. In the Vishakhapatnam circle, post offices sell Chandamama as well as accept annual subscriptions of the magazine through retail post.

In Tamil Nadu, the postal department distributes Veta's home-study spoken-English material, while under the "Postman Akshaya" scheme with TVS Finance and Services, post offices in villages and small towns act as franchisees of loan products.

In the public sector, there is a tie-up with the ministry of external affairs whereby passport applications are accepted and scrutinised at Speed Post centres. There is another with the ministry of finance for filing of income tax and service tax returns. A tie-up with the railways for a proposed "Rail Post Parcel Service" is imminent.

The results of this new business orientation are there for all to see "" overall revenues were up 13.35 per cent last year. Revenue from premium products "" business post, media post, e-post, and initiatives like the above "" grew 26.09 per cent, and now comprises 23.93 per cent of total proceeds.

More exciting developments are in the pipeline. Recently, IL&FS, which is piloting two common service centre (CSC) projects in Baramati and Myiladuthurai under the National e-Governance Plan, has mooted that the post-office network be integrated with that of the CSCs. The proposal is still at the conceptual stage, says Alok Bhargava, executive director, IL&FS, with the transaction model, synergies and so on waiting to be worked out.

But if it does come about, this proposal could go a long way to help post offices evolve into the "one-stop shop" that they have become in other parts of the world.