New Delhi: Department of Post is planning to
introduce online version of postage stamps, which will enable
India Post customers to use print out of the stamp for sending
mails.
"Our effort is to make access of postal service easy and
simple for users. We are working on project that will enable
them to print copy of bar-code based receipt and use it in
place of postal stamps for sending mails," Department of Post
(DoP) Secretary Radhika Doraiswamy said.
The project is a part of e-commerce initiatives by India
Post, she added.
"Our minister (Union Minister for Communications and IT
Kapil Sibal) has already inaugurated e-post office and has
asked e-market place to be developed. We are in process of
developing application for various platforms on internet," she
added.
Under the e-market place project, DoP will facilitate
selling of small scale and cottage industry products through
its website.
The product catalogue will be published on internet and
will give customers an option to select and make payments for
the purchased product online.
Once the order in placed, post-office, located nearest to
the product seller`s location, will arrange for the pick-up
and delivery of the product to the customer.
"We will accept orders from both domestic and
international customers," Doraiswamy said.
Doraiswamy mentioned that DoP is contemplating
introduction of home pick-up services for mails and parcels
for some set of services such as registered post, insured
post, speed post and WorldNet.
"Customer would have to pay online and register for the
service. A postman will then go and pick the parcel or mail
from the customer. The plan, however, is currently in a
discussion phase," she said.
She added, "We have to ensure that post office gets the
payment for delivering services and customers get services
conveniently. Everything is being worked out through RFPs
(request for proposals), but most of our services will come on
internet in 2012," Doraiswamy said.
PTI
