Look at mail outsourcing, PM tells postal dept

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the postal department should examine the possibility of getting outsourcing contracts for mail sorting services.

"In most developed countries, labour-intensive postal operations like sorting and classifying mail are outsourced to lower cost countries. It is time for India Post to examine whether it could also provide such services, particularly in view of the success India has had as a destination for IT-related business process outsourcing," he said while addressing the inaugural function to mark 150 years of the Indian postal system.

He said the postal department must focus on value addition and cost control at the same time. "Meeting the twin challenges of technology and competition would require the department to look minutely at the users to ensure they get substantial value from its products and prevent them from migrating to other communication channels," the prime minister said.

President APJ Abdul Kalam, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said post offices should act as village knowledge centres and prepare citizens for facing global challenges.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said his ministry was planning to computerise all the 26,200 post offices in the country, which could be possible with an additional fund infusion of Rs 500 crore.

He said the post offices could be transformed to information knowledge centres through broadband and computer connectivity, which would provide postal, telecommunication and web-based services in remote villages.

The prime minister said he would provide all possible support to the plan.