E-commerce giants like Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm has boosted the revenue of Indian Post. Indian Post had reported a negative growth of 2% for their parcel delivery division in 2013-14. However, they were able to gain 37 percent increase in parcel revenues after tie-up with leading e-commerce boomers like Snapdeal and Amazon.
With dwindling letter or document traffic, the department is focusing on the fast-growing parcel segment, the official said, adding that various measures have been taken to modernize the department under the Digital India initiative.
As part of initiatives to leverage the e-commerce sector, the department has forged tie ups with leading online marketplaces like Snapdeal, Amazon, Paytm and Yepme for parcel delivery and has also set up modernized 48 centers to handle the packages.
Indian Post can become a major catalyst of e-commerce growth in India with its vast network of 1.5 lakh post offices across India, with 1.4 lakh delivery post offices and 4.6 lakh employees. Around 90% of the post offices are in rural India. Considering that 4 out of 10 orders on Internet are originating from rural areas, and Indian Post has 80% of its presence in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, both e-commerce and Indian Post can complement each other and solve some major shipping and delivery issues. This is precisely the reason Indian Post was able to witness a growth of 37% in their parcel delivery section.
Major e-commerce portals like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopclues and others have already started using the services of Indian Post for the delivery of the products and the growth is pretty encouraging. In a single year cited from December 2013 to December 2014, Indian Post delivered COD products worth INR 280 crores for these e-commerce companies. And this year, it is expected to increase substantially.
Besides helping other e-commerce platforms, Indian Post is in planning to launch their own portal, which can actually make some serious dents in the market. If Indian Post comes with his own e-commerce portal then it can become India’s largest online marketplace.
Government has also shown positive response towards Indian Post and has allocated INR 5000 crores to modernize and upgrade it as per latest technologies and protocols. Another INR 2000 crores would be spent on purchasing new, faster vehicles for speedy delivery as well.
Indian Post introduced a clean sharp Android app with real time tracking and postage calculator in Indian e-commerce market with a new delivery center.
The e-commerce sector in India is growing at 47% CAGR and Indian Post is the only delivery agency with a pan-India reach, the official said.
The official said in its endeavor to help bridge the digital divide, the department has taken an initiative to bring the rural artisans into e-commerce mainstream through a public private partnership.
Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier said that Indian Post with the world’s largest postal network was best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce firms. The minister had also suggested that Indian Post should strive to become the largest player in the e-commerce segment.
