Punjab's postal service aims at Rs 200 c

Aiming to earn a revenue of over Rs 200 crore in 2008-09, Punjab Postal services today announced several measures including relocation of post offices and tying up with banks and insurance companies to sell their products through the post's network.

"We are taking several steps this year in order to attain total revenue of Rs 200 crore which will allow us to reach a break even point from our operations in Punjab and by doing so we will be the third office in the country," Chief Postmaster General Prithvi Raj Kumar said here today.
The postal department in the state earns 82 per cent of revenue out of its total expenditure being incurred on postal operations.
"We are still not able to recover 18 per cent of our expenditure from operations in Punjab," he said while adding, "Postal department reported a deficit of Rs 34 crore with a total revenue of Rs 155 crore in 2007-08 from Punjab."
According to Kumar, postal departments of Maharashtra and Haryana are operating above the break even point at 103 per cent each.
The postal departments in the country have suffered a loss of Rs 560 crore during last fiscal.
Revealing the initiatives to be taken to improve the earnings from postal services, he said the department is focusing on entering into agreement with banks, insurance companies and mutual funds to sell their products through its network in a bid to jack up its income.

In addition to it, the department has also tied up with Indian Railways for reservation and selling of tickets through its branches, expected to start within two months, he said.