India Post to reach out to customers through technology

COIMBATORE, July 8, 2015

The Department of Posts will link postal savings bank accounts and postal insurance policies to the Aadhaar numbers of the account and policy holders across the region, as part of the Digital India initiative. 

According to Postmaster General, Western Region, Manju P. Pillai, with the Prime Minister launching the initiative, the department observed Digital India Week from July 1 to 7. The aim was to bridge the technology gap faced by customers in villages too. 

Ms. Pillai said that of the 606 post offices in the region, 130 had core banking solutions. About 241 post offices would be brought under core banking initiative this year in the Western Region. The department was also training its staff regularly on technology skills. It would be playing a major role in handling packages for e-commerce portals. India Post already had a mobile application that customers could download from its website and this could be used to track parcels and letters. 

As part of the week-long programme that concluded on Tuesday, the technology initiatives of the department were explained to panchayat heads and customers. “We will meet customers, even those in rural areas, at least once in two months to explain and demonstrate the online initiatives,” she said. 

More than 9,000 school children from 205 schools visited the computerised post offices in their respective areas to know about the computerisation programmes of India Post. As many as 3,903 postal savings bank accounts, 316 savings certificates and 50 postal life insurance policies were linked with Aadhaar numbers of the customers during the week. 

A special drive was also conducted to open savings certificates, savings bank accounts and policies. These measures would now be sustained through regular programmes, she added.

Source :  http://www.thehindu.com