Ecommerce News on India Post Services in Ecommerce Market

This article discusses on how the Indian Postal Department is making its mark in the ecommerce market by delivering parcels and generating employment…

According to latest ecommerce news report, India Post is planning to have dedicated road routes and trains to improve and speed-up e-commerce delivery. At the end of March 2016, Rs. 1500 crores was collected by India Post by delivering products for various enterprise ecommerce portals like Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart etc.

Considering the growing sales online, there is the need for more dedicated roads for short distances and trains for longer routes for easy and quick delivery of parcels in various locations. Infact, just a few months back, senior officials from the department of Posts met officials in the Ministry of railways to discuss and explore areas to increase the number of routes in the country for delivery from ecommerce firms.

Infact, India Post seniors have also mentioned that they have plans to buy their own vehicles for delivery through roads as most of the time they outsource it to other travel agencies. The department plans to buy 250-300 new vehicles this year. At present, there is a fleet of 1,300 vehicles in-house and outsourced for inter-city delivery and for delivery within short distances outside cities. The department also requires dedicated trains for parcels. For this, it has already tied-up with the railways and plans to increase the capacity further.

The dwindling postal department of India has been revived with the boom in the e-commerce industry. Ecommerce consultants are of the opinion that by 2020, the e-commerce sector in India is expected to grow to $119 billion and there will be more than 300 million shoppers. For a successful enterprise ecommerce implementation, one key factor is timely delivery of products to the customers.

In the budget of 2016, railway minister Suresh Prabhu had said that very soon the Railway ministry will bring about liberalising parcel policies to boost non-fare revenue and it will increase its service offerings to cater to ecommerce sectors. According to the budget, time-tabled parcel trains will soon be introduced.

According to ecommerce specialists, the joining hands of Indian Railways and India Post will definitely create a formidable logistics ecosystem. Being in the age of digital technology, this is an amazing combination in the country. With the Post offices being in almost all areas in India, including the villages, the expansion of Indian rail network will be an added bonus for the ecommerce market. The best part is that both are government departments.

To handle delivery of parcels from the ecommerce firms, the postal department has set up 48 processing centres. Automatic parcel centres are there in New Delhi and Kolkata and very soon, the department will set up these centres in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru as well.

Another good news is that the India Postal department has created job opportunities for the jobless youths in India. With online orders increasing, India Post is hiring the jobless to pick up and deliver goods. Students are also hired for this. The delivery boys hired form third party sources get a 12% commission for every delivery. This has helped in employment generation in the country.

The postal department’s revenue from COD parcels from e-commerce companies increased from Rs.500 crore in 2014-15 to Rs.1,300 crore in the year ending March 2016. India Post’s services are availed by major enterprise ecommerce firms like as Amazon India, Flipkart, Snapdeal among others. With e-commerce services expanding on a regular basis, the postal department in India is expecting earnings that will help break even the department in the next few years.

Sonal is an a href=http://www.eperiumindia.com/ecommerce specialist, helps ecommerce websites in software development, content management and shoring services.