National Postal Week : 9th – 15th October, 2014

National Postal Week : 9th – 15th October, 2014

World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9th October, to commemorate the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss capital, Berne. It was declared as World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1969 and since then, it is celebrated all over the world to highlight the importance of the postal services.

India Post is celebrating National Postal Week from 9th to 15th October, 2014. The purpose of World Post Day is to create awareness about the role of the postal sector in the lives of people and business and its contribution to the social and economic development of the country. The celebration is aimed at generating a broader awareness about India Post’s role and activities among the public and media at national level.

As part of National Postal Week, Department is celebrating Savings Bank day, Mail Day, Philately Day, Business Development Day and PLI Day to focus on various services provided.

Department of Posts has been serving every part of the country for more than 150 years by providing mail , Speed Post and Parcel services, Post Office Savings Bank, Postal Life Insurance, Philatelic services by issue of definitive and special/ commemorative stamps. The Department has been providing ‘My Stamp’ service to public at large. ‘My Stamp’ is the brand name for the personalized sheets of Postage Stamps of India Post. The personalization is achieved by printing a thumb nail photograph of the customers of the images and logos of institutions, or images of art work, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wild life, other animals and birds etc, alongside the selected Commemorative Postage Stamps.

Department is well aware about the changing needs of the customers and has introduced products like Speed Post, Express/Business Parcel, Business Post, ePost, Money Remittance services etc. Utilizing the vast network of Post Offices, India Post offers bill collection under ePayment and retails third party products from Post Offices.

India Post is providing the service of reservation of railway tickets under Passenger Reservation System of Indian Railways. Around 300 Post Offices are providing this facility to the customers across India.

India Post has set up Automated Mail Processing Centers in Delhi & Kolkata to create an Automated Mail grid. The Automated Mail Processing Center facilitates the processing of more than 55,000 piece of mail an hour. During the National Postal Week customers, especially children are encouraged to tour Automated Mail Processing Center. This unique venture of India Post is worth visit by the people.

In tune with the emerging e-Commerce market, parcel product has been revamped & Cash on Delivery (CoD) facility has been introduced. State-of-the-art Parcel centres are also being set up across the country. Department is also developing Parcel Network to cater to the needs of e-Commerce companies. Delivery of parcels and Express mail is also planned to be mechanised in bigger cities for efficient & quicker delivery.

India Post is in the process of inducting technology through an enterprise wide IT Project, at an approximate cost of Rs. 4909 crores,that will bring in electronic connectivity and capabilities across 1.5 lakhs Post Offices for seamless delivery of all mail & financial services.

On the occasion of ‘World Post Day’ a seminar on ‘Building Business for India Post’ was organized by Department of Posts to deliberate on opportunities and road ahead for India Post. ‘My Stamp’ facility was also inaugurated by Member (Operations), Postal Services Board in Sansad Marg Head Post Office, New Delhi – 110001. Number of activities have been planned during National Postal Week across the country.