PTI : Feb 08, 2017
Revenue deficit of the Department of Post (DoP)
widened to Rs 8,670 crore in the April-December period of this fiscal, but various
initiatives - including passport facility and other government services through
post - are expected to rake in more revenue.
The DoP had registered a revenue deficit of Rs 6,007 crore in
the fiscal year 2015-16, as per data shared by Communications Minister Manoj
Sinha.
The revenue deficit of the postal
department was Rs 5,473 crore in 2013-14 which increased to Rs 6,259 crore in
2014-15 and then narrowed to Rs 6,007 crore in 2015-16.
Total revenue of the DoP was Rs
9,307 crore at the end of December 2016. The department registered revenue of
Rs 10,730 crore in 2013-14, Rs 11,636 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 12,940 crore in
2015-16.
Sinha said that various measures
have been taken by the department to boost its revenue. "Railway tickets are being
sold through post offices under an agreement signed with the Ministry of
Railways. Presently, this service is available in over 340 post offices across
India. Around 70 Post Shoppes have been opened with total revenue generated
around Rs 60 lakhs," Sinha said.
He said that Government of India
has introduced Sovereign Gold Bond scheme (SGB) in the Union Budget 2015-16.
"During the six tranches
issued in last and current financial year, 96,215 Sovereign Gold Bond
applications for around Rs 80 crore were collected through Post Offices across
the country," Sinha said.
He said the pilot project for this
joint venture between MEA and DOP has commenced from January 25, 2017 at
Metagalli Post Office, Mysore in Karnataka and at Dahod Head Post Office in
Gujarat.
"Technology induction leading
to customer friendly initiatives such as premium due alerts etc. In sum, all
these above initiatives would go a long way to fetch more business and
generate more revenue," Sinha said.
//copy//- ET
