The Hindu : New Delhi News : New Year greets postal department with revenue loss

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Sunday, Jan 06, 2008
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New Delhi

New Year greets postal department with revenue loss

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: With many more people opting to punch in their greetings than rely on the age-old snail mail to deliver them, the postal department has been left to count its losses. The up-and-coming tele-companies, on the other hand, have managed to ring in the New Year on a high note.

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), revenue earnings in both government and private tele-sectors have multiplied with a great many people preferring e-commerce to postal services.

While the tele-companies netted close to Rs.175 crore on New Year’s Eve and the first day of the New Year as revenue, the Postal Department and the various courier services were left in the cold.

The consumers’ growing penchant for e-greetings is manifested by the fact that while the revenue earned on Diwali-2007 is estimated at Rs.165 crore, it shot up to Rs.175 crore on New Year’s Eve and New Year Day.

“Traditionally the projected revenue generation should have been pocketed by the Postal Department as also various courier outfits such as Blue Dart, DTDC, DHL and the like, and therefore it is a net loss for them as about 40 million young people countrywide chose to transmit their New Year and Diwali greetings through SMS and made their relevant purchases through e-commerce,” said ASSOCHAM here over the weekend.

‘Focus on new ways’

It cautioned that the phenomenon “will further intensify in years to come and the Postal Department as also courier companies would have to find ways and means that are innovative and out of box to compensate for the lost ground”.

ASSOCHAM general secretary D. S. Rawat, who released the assessment report, said the current telecom revolution was going to take another 20 million youngsters into making the best use of mobile and telephony facilities for transmitting their wishes even in rural pockets in the next 15-20 months.

According to ASSOCHAM estimates, e-cards and e-shopping sales for New Year and Diwali registered a growth of 120 per cent and generated revenues totalling Rs.110 crore on the eve of New Year 2008 as well the first day of 2008. For Diwali-2007, the estimates amount to Rs.130 crore.

In sharp contrast, the Postal Department’s revenue generation suffered a drop of Rs.15 crore to 18 crore on New Year’s Eve. Their estimates for Diwali-2007 are pegged at Rs.8 crore to 10 crore.

Similarly, courier companies’ revenue losses are estimated within the range of Rs.16-17 crore on New Year’s Eve and Rs.5.5 crore on Diwali.

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