India Post Set to Enter E-Commerce Space With West Bengal Circle

To leverage the country's fast growing e-commerce space, the West Bengal circle of the postal department has approached various industrial bodies with a plan to create an online marketplace for the local traders.

A senior official of India Post at Kolkata GPO told PTI that since e-commerce is a sunrise industry, it is trying to earn higher revenue in the region by involving local traders and business houses.

"For that we are planning to take the help of chambers of commerce present in Kolkata as well as Howrah and other districts," the official said.

India Post has already written to the Bengal Chambers of Commerce requesting it to arrange for an interaction between the Postal officials and local traders, official sources said.

"We have send a proposal to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry basically to arrange an interactive session with traders and financial houses here. We will also seek help from other chambers in the city and those in Howrah and other districts," a source said.

The source said that though the aim was to rope in local traders irrespective of their business volumes, big business houses are also welcome.

"We want everybody to join us in our venture in the e-commerce market. At the moment most of the e-commerce companies neglect the moffusil areas, villages and distant parts of the country. India Post's wide reach to any corner

can bring dramatic changes to the whole e-commerce industry," he pointed out.

India Post is creating a special cell to cater to this need, the source said.

"Immediately we are not looking for any profit. But we know that revenues will grow with time. We have plans for free pick-ups. Because consumers don't want to make an upfront payment, there will be added capabilities like Cash On Delivery and reverse logistics. We are working on a software to start the COD service," one of the sources said.