At the time of Independence there were 23,344 post offices throughout the country. Of these 19,184 post offices were in the rural areas and 4,160 in the urban areas. As on 31 March 2005 the country has 1,55,516 post offices, of which, 1,39,120 are in rural areas and 16,396 in urban areas. As a result of this seven-fold growth today India has the largest postal network in the world.

Expansion of the postal network especially in the rural areas, has, to a great extent, been brought about by opening part-time Extra Departmental Post Offices, a system unique to the Department of Posts. Under this system, local residents are employed, subject to fulfillment of certain criteria, to man the post office for a period not exceeding five hours and to deliver and convey mails on payment of a certain allowance. On an average in India, a post office serves an area of 21.10 sq km, and a population of 6609. Post Offices are opened subject to satisfaction of norms regarding population, income and distance stipulated by the Department. There is an element of subsidy for opening post offices in rural areas, which is to the extent of 85 per cent of the cost in hilly, desert and inaccessible areas, and 66 2/3 per cent of the cost in normal rural areas.

The postal network consists of four categories of post offices, viz., Head Post Offices, Sub-Post Offices, Extra Departmental Sub-Post Offices and Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices. All categories of Post Offices retail similar postal services, while delivery function is restricted to specified offices. In terms of management control, accounts are consolidated progressively from Branch Post Offices to Sub-Post Offices and finally in Head Post Offices. The Department has about 2.47 lakh departmental employees and about 2.93 lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks as on 31 March 2005. Their training needs are met through a well-developed training infrastructure.

Mail Systems

First-class mail, viz., post cards, inland letter cards and envelopes, are given airlift wherever found advantageous, without any surcharge, between stations connected by air. Second-class mail, viz., book packets, registered newspapers and periodicals are carried by surface transport, i.e., trains and road transport.

The Department has handled about 670.07 crore pieces of mail during the year 2005-06. Out of this 536.55 crore constituted first-class mail that comprised household mail and official and business correspondence. Second-class mail was 133.52 crore. The volume of unregistered mails handled during 2005-06 was to the extent of 649.22 crore out of which rural mail constituted 246.39 crore and urban mail 402.83 crore. The registered mail handled during 2005-06 was 20.85 crore. Besides, the Department handled 9.58 crore money orders of total value of Rs.7183.43 crore during 2005-06.

International Mails

India is a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) since 1876 and of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) since 1964. These organisations aim at extending, facilitating and improving postal relations among other countries. India exchanges mail with more than 217 countries by air and surface.

Money can be remitted from selected foreign countries to India by way of money orders. India has money order services with 27 countries. India has two way money order service with Bhutan and Nepal, wherein money orders can be sent to and received from these countries. With the remaining 25 countries, only inward service is available where money orders booked in these countries can be paid in India. The Department is considering introduction of electronic International Money Order service to provide fast, reliable and efficient money transmission service.

International EMS, which started in 1986 with five countries, has now been extended to 97 countries. With a view to facilitate export and import to and from foreign destinations, principal foreign offices of exchanges have been set up at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. In addition, six sub-foreign post offices have been established at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Cochin, Srinagar and Noida for both import and export. Export Extension Windows have also been made operative at Varanasi, Kanpur, Surat, Ludhiana, Moradabad and Guwahati to cater to the needs of the exporters/tourists in these areas.

Modernisation and computerisation of foreign mail operations had been taken up in the 10th Five Year Plan for improving the quality of service in this area. Taking further steps to improve the quality, the Department of Posts had introduced 13-digit bar code labels for all international accountable articles from September 3, 2003. The application of barcodes on postal articles and the effective use of electronic track and trace systems enable both customers and the postal administrations to check whether the articles are in transmission or these have been delivered much better than is possible through the manual system of tracing such articles.

Technology Induction

India Posts aims to provide enhanced customer and employee satisfaction along with increasing its revenue through induction of IT. The Department of Posts aims to leverage information technology to attain a position of leadership and excellence in delivery of postal services, transforming the Department to a modern communications and financial services agency. The key initiatives undertaken during the year 2006-07 are as under:

Computerisation and Networking of Post Offices: By the end of March 2007, the Department of Posts supplied computer and its peripherals like scanner weighing scales, modems, etc. along with requisite power equipment like Gensets, UPS, etc. to all Head Post Offices and a large number of sub post offices. A total of 8263 post offices have been computerised by March 2007. The National Information Centre (NIC) is also implementing a WAN (Wide Area Network) connecting all the Head Post Offices, Administrative Offices, Major Speed Post Centres and Accounts Offices. National Data Centre has also been set up at New Delhi and this Data Centre is being connected to the WAN. On being operational, the WAN will ensure a quantum jump in the quality of services being provided by the Posts Offices.

Modernisation of Operative Offices: Under the 10th Five Year Plan, to improve the ergonomics and ambience, 822 Post Offices were taken up for modernisation. This has resulted in better quality of counters, better furniture for customers and staff, proper illumination and uniform for both sign ages. The Department plans to take a quantum leap in its efforts to provide an electronic network of all Post Offices in the 11th Five Year Plan. It also plans to develop a single integrated software to link the data being received from all the Post Offices into a single repository, thereby empowering the customers and the managers.

Mail

Computerisation of Registration Sorting: As a part of the modernisation of mail network, computerisation of the registration sorting work in major mail offices had been initiated during the financial year 1995-96 by computerising Registration Sorting work at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. Registration sorting work in 154 mail offices has been computerized till 31.3.2007.

Computerisation of Head Record Offices (HROs): As a part of modernisation programme, computerisation of the Head Record Office (HRO) for proper maintenance of records relating to mail operations, their prompt retrieval and efficient office management has been undertaken. A beginning in this regard was made during the financial year 1997-98 by computerising HROs, Hyderabad Sorting Division. All HRO in the country have been computerised by 31st March, 2007.

Modernisation of Mail Offices (improving ergonomics): To improve the ergonomics and working environment, mail offices are being modernised with better operational equipments and improved ambience. The project was started during the financial year 1995-96, when 22 Mail Offices were modernized. By 31st March 2006, 269 Mail Offices were modernized.

With an objective to consolidate mail network, reduce cost of operation and generate revenue from mail related business, Mail Business Centres (MBCs) are being established across the country. These centres would be equipped with state-of-the -art technology and would offer one-stop solution for varied needs of bulk customers. By 31st March, 2007, 90 MBCs have been opened subsequent to merger/closer of smaller mail office.

Business Development Activities

A Business Development Directorate was set up in 1996 with the objective of marketing and promoting premium services for meeting the needs of specific customer segments. It was reorganised into Business Development and Marketing Directorate w.e.f 1st April 2005, to provide a sharper focus on marketing of the whole continuum of postal products. A separate Parcel and Logistics Division has been created in the Business Development and Marketing Directorate w.e.f 1st April 2005 to focus attention on parcel products. Some of the premium services offered by the Department are given below:

• Speed Post: Speed Post service was introduced on 1st August 1986. Under this service, letters, documents and parcels are delivered within a given time frame failing which full refund of postage is given to the customer. The Speed Post Network comprises 266 National and 857 State Speed Post Centres. This service is also available internationally to 97 countries.
  
  An Internet based track and trace service speed net was launched on 3rd January 2002. Apart from providing tracking facility for Speed Post articles to the customers, it also provides information to the management about the quality of service, business performance, marketing customer service etc. It is now operational from all 266 National Speed Post Centres and selected State Speed Centres.
  
  
• Business Post: The Department launched Business Post with effect from 1st January 1997 in order to meet specific needs of bulk customers for pre-mailing activities. Accordingly, it provides value addition to all traditional services offered by the Post in the form of collection, insertion, addressing, sealing, franking etc. Recently, printing of bills, financial statements, mailers etc. have also been included among the pre mailing services extended to customers under Business Post.
  
  
• Bill Mail Service: Bill Mail Service was introduced w.e.f 15th September, 2003 to provide a cost effective solution for mailing of periodic communication in the nature of financial statements, bills, monthly account bills or other items of similar nature, which may be posted by service providers to their customers.
  
  A National Bill Mail Service was launched in February 2005 that allows Bill Mail Service items meant for outstation destinations also to be bundled in package, which can be sent to destination cities as Speed Post, Express Parcel Post etc. article, on payment by the sender. The individual bills in the package are charged only at Local Bill mail service rates.
  
  
• Express Parcel Post: The Express Parcel Post seeks to provide a reliable and time bound parcel service through surface transport. It provides door-to-door delivery and VPP service upto Rs 50,000 to cater to corporate users and business establishments on contractual basis. Express Parcel Post can be booked in 266 stations in the country, where National Speed Post Centres exist.
  
  
• Logistics Post: A Logistics Post service was introduced by the Department in 2004-05. This service has already started in many Postal Circles. Logistics Post is designed to carry consignments from point to point without any maximum limit. Value added services like pick-up, delivery, track and trace are also being provided in Logistic Post.
  
  
• Media Post: The Department offers a unique media to help the corporate and government organisations reach potential customers through Media Post. Under this facility, customers can use the following for their branding exercise: (a) Advertisement on Postcards, Inland Letter Cards, Aerogram and other Postal Stationery. (b) Space sponsorship options on letter-boxes.
  
  
• Retail Post: Through its vast network of more than 1.5 lakh post offices, the Department offers the facility to collect all public utility bills and sale of application forms for government and other private organisations. Sale of application forms for UPSC etc., surveys through postmen, address verifications through postmen, collection of loan applications through postal network etc. are some of the activities undertaken under Retail Post.
  
  
• Direct Post: Many Countries have identified Direct Marketing/Advertising mail as an important component of business mail with high potential for growth. With high economic growth, Direct Mail volumes are expected to grow significantly in India also. A service called Direct Post was introduced w.e.f. 2nd June, 2005 to deal with delivery of un-addressed mail to the doorsteps of the target population. A new Direct Post value addition has also been introduced from 18th April, 2006, allowing advertising mail to be combined with transaction mail like bills etc.
  
  
• e-Post: e-post service, launched on 30th January, 2004, utilises the last mile advantage provided by the Department to enable people to send and receive message or scanned images through e-mail in all post offices in the country. People who would not normally have access to internet are able to send and receive e-mail messages without possessing an e-mail ID, thereby bridging the digital divide. To make it useful for business also, a corporate version of e-post was also launched on 18th October, 2005, which allows simultaneous sending of e-post to a maximum of 9999 addresses.
  
  
• e-Bill Posts : A new service, called e-bill Post has been launched by the Department as one of the technology enabled services for the customers. Presently this service is available at Bangalore and Kolkata and is likely to start in other cities very soon. This has been designed keeping in view the requirements of the clients. The service is useful for payment of electricity, telephone, mobile, water and other kinds of bills/ dues at the Post Office counters by the users. The user can go to a nearby Post Office and pay their utility bills.