The plan is to deploy
postmasters in villages to collate details from farmers on their produce and
upload the data online for traders to peruse and make decisions
If you are a farmer looking to sell paddy, cotton, or any
other farm produce, take it to the post office.
India's postal department is set to launch a
pilot programme that seeks to help farmers sell their produce over the
Internet, that too without spending a paisa on transport.
The plan is to deploy postmasters in villages to
collate details from farmers on their produce and upload the data online for
traders to peruse and make decisions.
India Post, which is taking up the role of a
mediator here, will launch the pilot project in two locations in Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana over the next couple of weeks, said BV Sudhakar, the chief
postmaster general of the circle covering the two Telugu-speaking states.
The initiative is part of India Post's efforts
to put its vast network of post offices and employees into use at a time when
the advent of emails and proliferation of mobile phones, instant chat apps and
express courier services made its core service of delivering letters mostly
irrelevant. The department's new areas of interest include financial services
and insurance. It is also exploring new-age business opportunities to generate
revenue.
Under the new project, postmasters will use
smartphones to take photos of the farm commodities and upload the details on a
website that will act as a trading platform.
"While it is free for farmers, India Post
will collect a nominal fee from the buyers, apart from stipulating a condition
that buyers should use the services of India Post for transporting the farm
commodity to the required destination," Sudhakar told ET.
Terming it a first of its kind initiative and a
win-win for both farmers and traders, Sudhakar said that, based on the results
of pilot project, the postal department will decide on extending the service
across the country.
An Andhra-based firm, NGIT Systems, has built
the trading platform for India Post. The company has experience in developing
online platforms for farmers to sell, buy and lease farms, crops, manures,
cattle and farming equipment.
The idea of launching an agri-commodity trading
platform was arrived at as part of India Post's asset maximisation strategy
wherein it plans on improving revenue from its existing human and physical assets,
including logistics network, said Sudhakar.
India Post is looking at strengthening its
logistics infrastructure connecting various commodity markets in AP and
Telangana and between Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru using some 500 trucks,
said Sudhakar.
Aimed at encouraging the postmasters in villages
to participate in the new initiative and help improve revenue, the department
is devising a special incentives package and increasing the fleet size based on
demand. The department expects to cover at least a third of these states and is
targeting a minimum Rs 10 crore in revenue from agricommodity trading in the
first year.
Sudhakar, who took up several innovative schemes
in the circle that were later replicated across the country, said he was
confident of the circle posting a marginal profit this fiscal year. Effectively
using the services of 40,000-plus employees working across 16,155 post offices,
the circle improved the average per employee revenue to Rs 3.15 lakh last
fiscal year from Rs 2.43 lakh the previous year.
ET
