The revenue deficit of the Department of Post has declined marginally to Rs 6,007 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 6,259 crore in the previous fiscal, Parliament was informed today.
The revenue deficit for the Department stood at Rs 5,806 crore (2011-12), Rs 5,426 crore (2012-13) and Rs 5,473 crore (2013-14).
"It is a fact that there has been a revenue deficit in the Department of Post since the last few years. There are two major components of expenditure -- salary and pension. More than 90 per cent of expenditure is incurred on these two components," Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
He added that the Department, under the Universal Service Obligation, is responsible for providing mail and financial services to citizens at reasonable and affordable rates.
"Given the responsibility of providing services to addressees at reasonable costs coupled with ever increasing cost of fuel, AMC, transportation of postal articles including rail and air freight charges, there is an impact on the operational cost of postal network," he said.
He added that despite the increasing cost, the Postal Department continues to make efforts to limit the expenditure within budgetary allocation.
Responding to a separate query, Sinha said the Postal Department has proposed to open 400 new branch post offices and 412 new sub-post offices by redeployment and relocation during the current five-year plan ie 2012-13 and 2016-17 under the Plan Scheme -- Rural Business and Access to Postal Network.
Of this, 344 branch post offices and 369 sub-post offices have already been opened upto March 2016.
"Targets for opening of new branch post offices and sub-post offices during the current financial year 2016-17 are 97 and 90, respectively," he said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
