Mangalore: India Post to Offer Air Parcel Service
Pics by Dayananda Kukkaje

MANGALORE, Sep 13 (The Hindu): India Post, which is reinventing itself in the changing times, will start offering air parcel services within a fortnight from now.

Postmaster-General for South Karnataka region Vasumitra told presspersons here on Saturday that India Post would handle air parcels weighing one kg and above. The department was already offering air cargo services to the four metros from Bangalore under the scheme Logistics Post, which allowed trans-shipment of consignments weighing more than 25 kg.

Vasumitra, who was here to launch the Project Arrow at the Head Post office, said India Post would introduce flat-rate boxes in order to make sending of smaller consignments by air easy. A one-kg box would typically cost Rs. 1,000 while a five-kg box might cost Rs. 2,500. There would be a 2.5-kg box as well. The department hoped to make the despatch of parcels easier and people would be able to put any allowable material and send them across without hassles, he said. The India Post officials would soon explore the possibility of sending flowers and fish products as air cargo. The Logistics Post parcels could be booked from Mangalore too, but they would be treated as surface cargo up to Bangalore. India Post, which had two aircraft now, would soon be purchasing a few more, he added.

Vasumitra said that India Post might offer debit cards to its account-holders in most post offices by March 2011. To begin with, they would be offered in eight post offices across the State this year. The facility would be extended to other post offices in the circle by next fiscal. This would be consequent to core-banking facilities that were being introduced in a phased manner. The Postal Department had studied two software packages being used in banks. The groundwork such as data entry was on. A technology partner had been identified for providing core-banking infrastructure, he said. Mr. Vasumitra said that the department was looking for the right bridge software to provide the people with online bill payment option. The software used by the service-providers and that used by the bill-receiving agency should be compatible, he said.

The official said that the Postal Life Insurance was doing well in the market as it provided bonus rates that were higher than those provided by other players. It had launched rural postal insurance and branched off into accidental and health insurance schemes, following a tie-up with The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, he said.