Amazon Expand Partnership With India Post to Unlock Deliveries Across All of India’s Serviceable Pin Codes, Even in the Remotest Areas

Amazon India and India Post have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost nationwide delivery capabilities. This collaboration aims to enhance Amazon's reach, especially in remote and rural areas, by leveraging India Post's extensive last-mile delivery network.

Amazon will tap into India Post's vast postal network to facilitate deliveries across every pin code in the country.

Under the MoU signed, Amazon India and India Post aim to collaborate to harness the postal service's extensive last-mile delivery network, enabling Amazon to enhance the speed, efficiency, and reach of its deliveries, especially in remote and rural areas, which is about 19,300 pin-codes and Army pin-codes across India. 

Notably, Amazon and India Post have been partners since 2013, and this MoU further strengthens their collaboration.

In 2014, Amazon India launched a pilot project to test India Post’s cash on delivery model, and eventually became the first e-commerce company to enable an end-to-end integrated cash-on-delivery solution with India Post. This along with overall improvements has resulted in an almost 3x increase in the volume of Amazon parcels being delivered via India Post in the past 18 months.

Both companies will closely synchronize operations to maximize efficiencies, optimize resource utilization, and explore capacity sharing across their logistics networks.

Amazon has enabled an end-to-end integrated cash-on-delivery solution with India Post, which has significantly increased the volume of Amazon parcels being delivered via India Post.

Over the years, this India Post-Amazon collaboration has hit several milestones—from Amazon India becoming the only e-commerce company to serve Army-restricted locations through the Army Postal Service, to serving customers in remote locations such as Leh’s Nubra Valley, the South Garo hills in Meghalaya, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, among others.

This partnership is expected to improve delivery speed, efficiency, and reach, benefiting both Amazon and its customers.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Achieves 8 Crore Customers Milestone

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has just announced the attainment of a significant milestone, with eight crore customers now benefiting from its innovative and inclusive financial services.

Since its inception in 2018, the IPPB has been dedicated to providing accessible and affordable banking solutions to every corner of the nation. This remarkable achievement of reaching eight crore customers reflects the trust and confidence placed in IPPB by the people of India. The establishment of India Post Payments Bank was a strategic move to bridge the financial gap, empower the underserved population and drive financial inclusion through a combination of traditional and digital banking services.

With a commitment to financial inclusion, IPPB has played a pivotal role in empowering individuals across diverse demographics, including those residing in remote and underserved areas. The bank's focus on digital banking services has facilitated seamless transactions, making banking services accessible to a broader spectrum of the population.

“We are thrilled to announce that India Post Payments Bank has reached the milestone of 8 crore customers. This achievement is a testament to our mission of making banking services available to every Indian, regardless of their location or socio-economic status,” said Shri Easwaran Venkateswaran, MD & CEO (Interim) and COO of IPPB.

Last year in April, IPPB collaborated with Airtel to launch WhatsApp Banking Services for its customers, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.

In December 2020, IPPB unveiled a digital payment app ‘DakPay’, as part of its continuous efforts to provide Digital Financial inclusion at the last mile across India.

The IPPB’s customer-centric approach, coupled with a wide network of post offices, has significantly contributed to this milestone. The bank remains committed to furthering financial inclusion, introducing innovative products and enhancing customer experience in the coming years.

"As we celebrate this achievement, we express our gratitude to our customers, stakeholders, and the dedicated team at the IPPB & Department of Posts for their unwavering support. The journey towards a financially inclusive India continues, and the IPPB remains at the forefront, driving positive change through accessible banking services, " said the press release by Ministry of Communications. 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.

The IPPB’s reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack – enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers’ doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device. Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, the IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

It is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Our motto stands true – Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable.

Website: www.ippbonline.com

India Post and Shiprocket partner to strengthen e-commerce export ecosystem for SMEs to directly reach the Global Markets

 The collaboration will make it easier for Artisans, weavers, and SMEs to directly reach the consumer (D2C) in Global Markets

The Department of Posts, as part of its ongoing initiatives to create an export ecosystem for e-commerce in the country, entered into an agreement with Shiprocket (Bigfoot Retail Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), one of the leading e-commerce enablement platforms. The collaboration aims to enhance e-commerce exports by leveraging India Post's extensive presence and reliable shipping solutions.

The agreement was signed today in New Delhi in the presence of Shri Alok Sharma, Director General, Postal Services; Chief Postmaster General Delhi, Ms. Manju Kumar; and Shri Saahil Goel, Co-founder and CEO, Shiprocket, marking a significant milestone in India’s cross border e-commerce landscape.

Speaking at the event, Shri Alok Sharma, Director General Postal Services shared that “India Post has taken a series of steps in the recent past like expansion of Foreign Post Offices, introduction of Postal Bill of Export to enable commercial exports through post offices, launch of a competitive International Tracked Packet Service and setting up of Dak Ghar Niryat Kendras (DNKs) across the country.”

“The online order processing, export documentation, compliances and Customs clearance has been made easy through electronic Postal Bill of Export (PBE) which can be filed on DNK portal. Integration of DNK portal with different agencies and e-marketplace will benefit the artisans, craftsmen and SME sellers from the remotest areas of the country. As on date more than 600 DNKs have been made operational,” Shri Sharma added.

This agreement will lead to technical integration between Dak Ghar Niryat Kendra and Shiprocket and enable India based sellers, using Shiprocket, to directly generate e-PBE and shipping labels from Shiprocket platform itself. The exporters can avail packaging, label printing, pickup facility and induct their shipments to the nearest DNK in any part of the country.

During the event, Ms. Manju Kumar, CPMG Delhi, highlighted that "e-commerce has emerged as a powerful driver of economic growth and innovation and this collaboration aims to achieve the same by harnessing the extensive Post Office infrastructure and enable more small businesses on Shiprocket platform to participate as well."

Shri Saahil Goel, Co-founder and CEO of Shiprocket, said that “We are thrilled to extend our strategic partnership with India Post, a collaboration that is set to reshape the landscape of e-commerce and global trade for MSMEs. Together with India Post, we are committed to providing faster, more secure, and more efficient global parcel services to over 200 destinations worldwide. We aim to not only expand our reach but also reduce first-mile costs and delivery time through Dak Ghar Niryat Kendras (DNKs).

This partnership holds immense promise as we work together with logistics aggregators and e-marketplace leaders to promote e-commerce exports in a digital age. The agreement is the latest addition to India Post’s export-oriented initiatives after the MoU signed with Amazon last week.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and Airtel Launches WhatsApp Banking Services

Empower customers pan-India to access banking services on their mobile phones in just a few clicks 

Delivered on Airtel IQ, the messaging solution will augment the Govt.’s Digital India mission by enabling IPPB  customers across the country to seamlessly connect with their bank on WhatsApp 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), in collaboration with Airtel, announced the launch of WhatsApp Banking Services for IPPB customers in New Delhi on Friday, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.

The newly launched IPPB WhatsApp Banking channel will enable IPPB customers to seamlessly connect with the bank on WhatsApp and effortlessly avail a host of banking services, including doorstep service request, locating nearest Post Office and much more. In line with the ambition of the Government to bring digital and financial inclusion to citizens in their language, the Airtel – IPPB WhatsApp Banking solution is also working on to build multi-language support, enabling added convenience to customers, especially to those in the rural parts of the country to access banking services in their preferred language.

Airtel has been working with IPPB to deliver as many as 250 million messages per month to the bank’s customers many of whom are located in mofussil towns and tier 2,3 cities. The addition of the WhatsApp messaging will add to customer’s accessibility to connect with the bank on their fingertips, furthering Digital India mission of the Government, as part of which IPPB has been working tirelessly to deliver banking services in the rural pockets of the country.

Shri Gursharan Rai Bansal, CGM & CSMO – India Post Payments Bank said, “We are delighted to work with Bharti Airtel as our partner in driving digital and financial inclusion in India. We believe that financial services driven by technology have great potential and can go a long way in ensuring that the best financial products reach the farthest corners of the country."

Shri Abhishek Biswal, Business Head - Airtel IQ said, “Airtel IQ is a robust, intuitive and secure cloud communication suite. With the addition of WhatsApp messaging to the existing SMS and voice communication that we offer to India Post Payments Bank customers, we will further enable a two-way communication between the bank and their customers. We are delighted to continue our association with IPPB to contribute significantly in making banking services more accessible to tier2,3 cities in the country. We promise to continue delivering customer centric solutions that offer greater convenience to customers."

The IPPB and Airtel IQ are working towards further integrating a LIVE interactive customer support agent into the WhatsApp solution which will enable customers to access 24X7 support and get quick resolutions for their queries.

India Post Partners with Shiprocket & Pickrr; To Benefit Startups and SMEs

India Post, the world’s largest delivery network, has signed an MoU with Shiprocket to boost last-mile Ecommerce delivery services across the country.

India Post has announced partnership with Shiprocket, a leading logistics aggregator company, to enhance its last-mile delivery services for various E-commerce products. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today between India Post, Shiprocket & Pickrr at Dak Bhawan in New Delhi., Director General, Postal Services Shri Alok Sharma, senior officers of the Department of Posts, and representatives of Shiprocket and Pickrr were present during the event.

 

M/s Bigfoot Retail Solutions (Shiprocket) is an emerging logistics aggregator company with three lakh sellers and 70 million consumers annually. This partnership between India Post and Shiprocket will provide shipping and last-mile delivery services to Shiprocket's three lakh strong seller base which includes Startups and a large number of small and medium businesses. The MoU marks a significant milestone for taking e-commerce to the last mile and is expected to benefit millions of customers all over country.

Speaking on occasion Director General, Postal Services Shri Alok Sharma said that today is a momentous occasion and this partnership will fulfil the aspirations of rural youth to be benefitted from the e-commerce revolution in the country.

Saahil Goel, Co-founder & CEO, Shiprocket said, the India Post network will provide last-mile connectivity to the e-commerce market player and will facilitate in the penetration of E-commerce services beyond large cities and towns. It would enable automated shipping and faster delivery for merchants, resulting in cost-effectiveness and business growth.

To facilitate this partnership and to provide better services to customers, India Post has ensured IT integration with the IT systems of Shiprocket. This integration has been done through various API for Tariff, Booking, Label Generation, Pickup and Track & Trace

Digital Payments’ Services by India Post Payments Bank ‘DakPay’ Launches

DakPay is double strength of service offerings in the form of online payments and home delivery of financial services – Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Department of Posts (DoP) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) unveiled a new digital payment app ‘DakPay’ at virtual launch event today. The App is launched as part of its ongoing efforts to provide Digital Financial inclusion at the last mile across India.

DakPay is not just a digital payment app but a suite of digital financial and assisted banking services provided by India Post & IPPB through the trusted Postal (‘Dak’) network across the nation to cater to the financial needs (‘Pay’) of various sections of the society – be it sending money to the loved ones (Domestic Money Transfers – DMT), Scan QR code and make payment for services/merchants digitally (Virtual debit card & with UPI), enabling cashless ecosystem through biometrics, providing interoperable banking services to the customers of ANY BANK (AePS) and Utility Bill Payment services.

At the launch event Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad appreciated India Post Payments Bank’s efforts during fight against Covid-19 by providing doorstep financial assistance through AePS leading to financial empowerment of the unbanked and the underbanked.

Announcing the launch of the “DakPay”, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Law &Justice said, “India Post stood the test of times by serving the nation through various postal services digitally and physically during nationwide lockdown. Launch of DakPay adds up to the legacy of India Post which is about reaching out to every household. This innovative service will not only give access to banking services and postal products online, but also is a unique concept where one can order and avail postal financial services at doorsteps. I strongly believe that this double strength of service offerings in the form of online payments and home delivery of financial services combined with nationwide network of Postal department will be another big leap towards Prime Minister’s vision of a financially inclusive and an AatmaNirbhar Bharat.

On the occasion, Shri Pradipta Kumar Bisoi, Secretary (Posts) & Chairman, IPPB Board said that, “Dak Pay brings simplified payment solutions to all by offering all customers access to the banking and payments products and services either through an App or in assisted mode with the help of the trusted Postman. Dak Pay is truly an Indian solution designed to address the financial needs of every Indian”.

“The unveiling of DakPay is a landmark achievement in IPPB’s journey and will further deepen comprehensive financial inclusion to bring forth the dawn of a ‘Truly Inclusive Financial System’. Our motto is - Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable.” Said Mr. J Venkatramu, MD & CEO, India Post Payments Bank.

About India Post Payments Bank

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.

IPPB’s reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack – enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers’ doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device. Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

IPPB is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Our motto stands true – Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable.

For further information on IPPB, visit www.ippbonline.com

India Post Payments Bank Crosses Milestone of 2 Crore Customers

 

• Milestone achieved in 17 months since launch of operations


• With Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS), IPPB single largest platform in providing interoperable banking services 

The Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Law & Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad today announced that India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has achieved an important milestone of 2 crore customers, providing a major impetus to Government’s efforts in furthering financial inclusion in unbanked and underbanked areas across the country.

In August last year, IPPB had reached the landmark of 1 crore customers in just its first year of operations. The next 1 crore customers have been acquired and onboarded in just 5 months. On an average, IPPB has been opening/maintaining a run rate of 33 lakh accounts per quarter.

Speaking on the milestone of 2 crore customers, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Law & Justice said, “The success of IPPB’s business model underlines the Government’s intent in creating an interoperable banking infrastructure for the public good contributing toward changing the financial inclusion landscape in India. Since its launch, IPPB has enabled more than 1.36 Lakh Post Offices and 1.9 Lakh Dakiyas to provide a complete suite of banking services at the doorstep of the customer providing access to any Aadhaar linked bank account, leading to an increase in rural banking infrastructure by almost 2.5 times.” 

“IPPB has been a harbinger in realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ushering economic transformation by bringing banks to the doorsteps of the villagers and the poor. While Jan Dhan Yojana was the first step in bringing crores of Indians into the financial mainstream, IPPB’s ability to provide Interoperable Doorstep banking services to customers of any bank including the over 38 crore Jan Dhan account holders captures the essence of IPPB’s motto of Aapka Bank, Aapke Dwaar. I wish DoP and IPPB all the success in their journey of creating newer milestones,” he further said.   

With the launch of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) Services in September 2019, IPPB has now become the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking services to the customers of any bank. With AePS services any common person with a bank account linked to Aadhaar can perform basic banking services such as cash withdrawals and balance enquiry irrespective of the bank they hold their account with. To avail these services, a customer with an Aadhaar linked account can simply authenticate his/her identity with fingerprint scan & Aadhaar authentication to complete a transaction. AePS services are bank-agnostic and are driven by an inexpensive infrastructure enabling low cost delivery of doorstep banking services to every section of the society without discrimination.

IPPB has implemented one of the largest ever digital financial literacy program by investing over 1 crore man hours in training and certifying more than 250,000 Postal Assistants, Postmen and GDS as Banking Service providers. The Bank has also digitized all the post office counters through a simple QR Code to accept electronic payments and also enabled direct payments into various post office saving schemes and purchase of postal products.

About India Post Payments Bank

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.

IPPB’s reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack - enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers' doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device. Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

IPPB is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Our motto stands true - Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable. 

For further details, visit www.ippbonline.com 

After Notice from India Post, Paytm Renames Postcard to 'Lifafa'

This Rakhi, SoftBank backed Paytm launched a digital version of shagun called 'Postcard' to enable customers to go cashless during special occasions. Customers could share cash instantly with each other across the country using this feature.

Few days later after Paytm's launch of Postcard, India Post, the government-operated postal system in India, has sent out an official notice to Paytm on use of name 'Postcard'.

The notice cited the IPO Act and the established rules and regulations, saying the usage of the word 'postcard' is the sole prerogative of India Post.

The norice was addressed to Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and India post asked the company to stop using the term ‘postcard’ with immediate effect.

The company is now branding its gifting solution as Paytm Lifafa.

Within 24 hours of launch of 'postcard', Paytm registered a strong surge in transactions for its Rakhi theme. Three weeks on, the service continues to be widely popular, having registered half a million transactions. Users can also send cash to each other using various other themes wherein Thank You, Lucky You and Best Wishes have emerged as the more popular ones. The company is now branding its gifting solution as Paytm Lifafa in order to bring more mass appeal.

Deepak Abbot, Snr. Vice President - Paytm said, “Paytm Lifafa offering has gained a lot of traction within a short period of time. We are rebranding it to ‘Lifafa’, a native word that holds a strong emotional connect and social relevance across generations. This will help in further establishing our payments offering as the go-to platform to send money instantly.”

Paytm is committed to support a rapid and permanent shift in consumer behavior in favor of digital payments. The company is looking to replace cash by enabling more consumers to experience the power of convenient digital payments on its platform.

Indian Postmen Will Soon Deliver Customized Weather Reports to Farmers

Indian postmen might soon have another task up their sleeve other than delivering Indian's their precious letters/mails. The country’s public weather forecaster, India Meteorological Department (IMD), is contemplating of giving Indian postmen an additional responsibility of a weatherman.

The IMD has decided to pilot a scheme to take benefit of the massive network that India Post has cultivated over the years and use it to collect and deliver important weather information to the country's farmers.

To start with, a postman will be provided with a template form when he goes to a village. The form will have some basic questions, like land usage, cropping pattern of the village, etc. The postman would be required to fill the form and get the phone numbers of some of the farmers from the village.

IMD's objective with the scheme is very simple, they intend to reach to as many farmers as possible. Since India's postal department has over 1,54,800 post offices across the country, with almost 90% of them in rural areas, they proved to be a perfect fit for the weather department. After reaching the country's hinterlands, the IMD plans to take the help of the Indian postmen to collect information that will help the department in providing farmers with custom-made weather and crop advisories.

AgriMet, IMD’s agriculture division, is gearing up to run the pilot programme in five villages across Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat. While the places have been decided, the cost of the project is still being deliberated upon.

Despite of being the third-largest economy in the whole of Asia, a large majority of farmers in India even now fully depend on the rains to make their decisions on sowing and harvesting. In fact, less than 50 per cent of India's total farmland is irrigated. This means, an inaccurate weather forecast ends up having a catastrophic effect on the country's entire economic cycle as the country's farmers have to suffer huge losses. Seeing India go through two consecutive drought years, the weather department decided to take some serious steps and bail the farmers, the agriculture sector and the whole of country out of this crisis.

The AgriMet is also contemplating on installing screens at the village post offices so as to display information on weather and crops directly to the farmers.

It is no secret that when it comes to monsoon predictions, the IMD has had a shaky past. For instance, it completely missed out on predicting the 2009 drought, which was the worst drought that the nation faced in the last four decades. Further, the department's forecasts have often diverged from the ones of Skymet, which is India’s biggest private forecaster.

In order to restore people's faith in the department and do away with all the discrepancies, the government has decided to spend about $60 million on a supercomputer that will help in increasing the department's precision in forecasting.

India Post's extensive network across the country isn't helping another industry for the very first time. It has received a payments bank license from the RBI, all thanks to its deep reach into the country’s hinterlands. Further, the department has also partnered with leading online sellers in the country such as Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal for deliveries.

Since, the Indian postmen will now also be doubling-up as weathermen, the responsibility of ensuring timely deliveries now becomes important than ever.

[Top Image - Pixabay.com]