Dept of Posts to develop 2,000 acre land bank

The Department of Posts (DoP) will develop unutilised plots into commercial establishments to unlock real estate stock.

"We have close to thousand plots of two acre each throughout the country. We are looking at the public-private participation (PPP) model to develop the plots with private players and put them to commercial use," S Samant, chief general manager (business development & marketing), Department of Posts, said on the sidelines of India Retail Forum on Thursday.

The department has conducted a feasibility study to develop the plots, and is planning to float a  special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the purpose. The proposal, however, is yet to go for approval to the union cabinet, Samant said.

The department, which owns 4,485 buildings and has hired 22,011 buildings across the country, has appointed property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj for identifying the properties and possible development.

''The postal department has huge amount of space left in many prime areas. These 1,000-2,000 sq feet plots are ideal for retail ventures. If the offices have more vacant land, it can be used for supermarkets. Otherwise, they can be used for convenience stores,'' said Bappaditya Basu, vice-president, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj. 

DoP has 16,259 post offices in urban areas and 1,39,074 offices in rural areas, and employs nearly five lakh people, Samant said. Currently, non-postal  revenue form merely 1-2% of the total revenue of DoP.
"We have 570 administrative offices, 46 store depots and 19 stamp depots. These are interesting areas for new retail opportunities," he said.

"We will be close to nearly one lakh post offices by the 11th Five Year Plan, our network becomes even more far reaching," Samant added.

Samant said the department is in talks with pharmaceutical companies to include their services at the post offices. Similarly, the department is also exploring a tie-up with Multi Commodity Exchange to disseminate agriculture-related information to farmers, he said.