India Post introduces cross border shipping solutions

Kolkata: The Postal Department on Monday launched International Tracked Packet Service (ITPS) through which the department will be able to track parcels, packets and other postal documents dispatched to as many as 12 countries of the Asia Pacific region. Chief Post Master General (West Bengal circle) Arundhati Ghosh unveiled the service to commemorate the occasion of World Post Day.

"Till date there was no tracking facility of international parcels. This service has been specially designed to cater to the needs of e-commerce market for cross-border transactions. Individuals will also be able to use this service. We are hopeful that this will soon emerge as the most economical service with visibility to send shipments to Asia Pacific region, especially for countries that do not exchange tracking information to registered letters," Ghosh said.

The countries for which the service will be available are Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Phillipines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The department has plans to extend the service in the days to come.

"The post office will offer volume discounts for customers who sends in bulk. The discount can be availed by any customer who signs a contract with us. There will be free pick up facility for our valued customers," a senior official said.

The West Bengal Circle will also organise a number of programmes from Monday to October 14 to mark the occasion of National Postal Week.

Camps will be organised in some schools to sensitise the school children about savings on Tuesday. Focus will be given on getting new Postal Life Insurance/Rural Postal Life Insurance business on Wednesday while Thursday will be observed as Philately Day to create awareness about stamps.

On October 13 (Business Development Day), interactive sessions with the current and potential customers will be held while on Friday, school children will be taken to Automated Mail Processing Centre.

"Our aim is to generate a broad awareness of the role and activities of India Post among the public and media," Ghosh said.